


What Did You Think?

by MajesticFlyingWalrus



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-21 07:48:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 51,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17638724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajesticFlyingWalrus/pseuds/MajesticFlyingWalrus
Summary: A story told in a series of vignettes in anachronistic order. ItachixOC.





	1. What Did You Think?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a rewrite of the original first chapter.
> 
> Chronologically takes place after most of the following chapters.

“What did you think?” Asked a familiar voice.

“Of the book?” A young woman answered with her own question even though she knew what he meant by context. Sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of a wooden porch, she closed the book in question and rested it in her lap.

He always surprised her with his visits. They were never the same time or place and almost never scheduled beforehand. Yet, she had become accustomed to the irregularity.

Fireflies gently drifted in the warm breeze of a midsummer night. Their soft luminescence mesmerizingly blinked and twinkled over dry, verdant grass beyond the reach of the dim, yellow porch light. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked in a union loud enough to be heard from the woods encircling the yard. There was nothing quite like the rare opportunity to enjoy the sensation of just existing in the atmosphere.

“Asaya,” he gently reminded her of their conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, Itachi, I know.” She replied, exhaling slowly.

Itachi couldn’t quite tell if her body language meant she was soothed or upset. Perhaps a little of both? “And?”

“I liked it. But a better question- what are you really here for?”

So she was at least a little disappointed. He tossed two sealed scrolls on the floor beside her. “You have been asked to open these.”

She drew her legs under her as she turned to look at him. The two cylindrical, green and red objects lay before her. Reaching out an inquisitive hand, she took hold of the two items bestowed upon her. They were scrolls from Kirigakure, but their contents and significance were unknown. “No, I have been told.”

Itachi did not wish to pursue a line of conversation which would spiral down negatively, although he could not fault her for her feelings on the matter. He simply reverted to his opening topic. “When did you finish it?”

“I haven’t, actually.” She held the book up for him to see, her index finger inserted between two pages to indicate how far she had actually read. It was about three quarters of the way through. “I’ll be done soon though, promise.” Gathering the objects, she stood up and signaled with a nod for him to follow. “So where is the fish-man?”

She was referring to Kisame, of course. They didn’t much care for each other. “Probably sleeping on your living room couch.”

“Does he have to do that?! Every time you two are over all he does is eat my food and bum out on the couch.” Entering the kitchen, she immediately went to the cupboard adjacent to the fridge and opened it to reveal a not unimpressive stash of tea. She pointed to them. “What kind?”

Itachi sighed. “Black.”

“Cream and sugar?” She asked knowingly.

“However you made it last time is good.”

Asaya smirked to herself. _Men_. Itachi was the kind of person for who really wanted three lumps of sugar when he asked for two. Or really, three lumps when he ambiguously asked for nothing in particular. He just didn’t want to say it out loud.

Asaya grabbed the kettle and placed it under the running tap. While it was filling, she lit the smallest burner on the stove. Then ran back to the sink to turn off the faucet before it overflowed and finally placed the kettle on the burner. “Give it about five minutes.”

Itachi took off his cloak and draped it over the back of his chair, gesturing an arm to the seat across from him.

Asaya took the seat, smiling slightly while moving the two scrolls to the edge of the table. “Right, so-”

The kitchen door slammed open, causing both parties to turn their heads. “What the hell is this!?” Exclaimed the intruder.

In the doorframe stood a boy of fifteen years with his right arm extended to point down the hallway in an upset and accusatory motion. Clothed only in a baggy t-shirt and pajama pants, his hair, which was of a finger length dark brown color, had clearly not been brushed. “That thing can’t have been here more than ten minutes and it’s already snoring on the couch! And you,” he raised his other hand to point at Itachi, “What the hell are you both back for?!”

“Tsuta-kun,” Asaya chided, “It’s the middle of the night. Don’t yell so loud.”

Tsuta didn’t take his eyes off of Itachi. “You could at least give us a little warning before you stop by in the dead of night, huh? Send a messenger crow or something.”

Before Itachi could respond, Asaya intervened, “Tsuta, you know this is just how things are.”

His brow pinched. “So? I live here just as much as you do.”

“We are not the ones who make the rules.” She reminded him calmly.

Tsuta was about to retaliate but held his tongue. He knew better; they’d had this argument many times. He lowered his arms and huffed, “Fine, but just because the big kahuna in the municipality of mud says so, doesn’t mean I gotta be happy about it.”

“I’m sure your grandfather would be proud of his new title.” Asaya dryly said. “Besides, it’s late. I’m too tired for this.” She tried to deflect.

Tsuta could have taken the hint, but he didn’t. “You say that but you don’t sleep until three in the morning. And you’re making tea- you have no intention of going to bed soon.”

“Yeah,” she held up one of the scrolls, “I have shit to do.”

 “Asaya-san, the kettle.” Itachi was the first to notice the steam and hiss that meant the kettle was about to obnoxiously erupt.

“Can I have some?” Tsuta asked presumptively. “What do you got that’s new?”

“Nothing.” Asaya answered. This was unusual, since Asaya frequently bought and tried new brands and styles of the beverage. “Most of the tins in the cupboard are empty.” Asaya was the kind of person who kept the empty tins, thinking she would later use them for some sort of recycled function, like storing spare change or miscellaneous objects. A few of the nicer ones were used in such a manner and were displayed on her desk. However, despite all her good intentions, she never collected change that amounted to more than laundry quarters or had much in the way of excess office supplies, so most tins were simply discarded sometime later.

The kettle erupted into a full whistle. Everyone in the room visibly winced as Asaya jumped up from her chair and over to the stove, where she seized the kettle and turned off the burner. As the harsh whistle simmered down, Asaya readied three mugs from another nearby shelf and asked “What does everyone want?”

“Mmmm…” Tsuta thought, “Chamomile, please.”

“Sure thing.” Asaya turned her head to look behind her, “Itachi? You wanted black tea right?”

“Yes. Plain.” Itachi had changed his mind.

Facing away from them, Asaya rolled her eyes. Both of them knew he hated the bitter taste of plain black tea. She could never relate to the desire to keep up the pretence.

“So, you never answered my question. What are you doing back this time?” Tsuta asked Itachi. Although as far as Itachi was concerned, pestered was a more fitting verb.

“He dropped off two sealed scrolls for me to open like I showed you, nothing special.” Asaya interjected again, pointing to the scrolls left on the kitchen table.

“Ya know, it’s rude to answer questions for people.”

 _Dammit, Tsuta._ She really didn’t feel like managing his behavior. Tsuta didn’t like Itachi, and Itachi didn’t like Tsuta. They could just come to an armistice, but no. Tsuta had to be a stupid teenage boy. She loved him like a brother, but this had long since become taxing.

Itachi looked directly into the boy’s eyes. If the boy would just grow up and stop trying to stupidly push boundaries when he knew better, he and Itachi could have a perfectly functional agreement to mutualy ignore each other. In fact, Itachi respected Asaya’s relationship with the boy. He was actually witty and charismatic in a devil-may-care sort of way. And ultimately, Tsuta was a genuinely good friend to her. But circumstances were what they were. And the boy just had to provoke him with a cocked eyebrow and lip twitching in a smug smile.

Itachi sat slightly reclined with broad shoulders. “This is correct. Kisame and I are here to have the two scrolls unsealed. We should be gone by morning, provided all goes well.”  He said in monotone.

“Fair enough. Just as long as I don’t have to deal with Homo-Selachimorpha over on the couch and it doesn’t eat all the food I’ll be good.”

“They shouldn’t be more than a standard pain in my ass. They aren’t particularly highly classified- probably just mission reports from a year or two ago. Who asked you steal them? ” Asaya said while placing a mug on the table for Itachi and bringing another one to Tsuta.

“The Daimyo of Shimo, to my knowledge. They presumably contain controversial information about an international occurrence, but I was only given orders to retrieve and bring them to you. If you want to know their contents you can look for yourself.” Itachi took a sip of his tea, trying very much to not be visibly repulsed by the bitterness.

“Typical.” Asaya said indifferently. She grabbed her own mug from the counter and brought it with her to the table. She was drinking black tea as well, mostly for the higher caffeine content she would need to keep her awake all night. Although unlike Itachi, she loved the taste of it plain- the darker, the better.

 “Well whatever, I’m going back to bed.” Tsuta yawned. “Thanks for the tea, Asaya. Goodnight.” He turned and walked back to his room.

“Night, Tsuta!” Asaya called after him.

Itachi breathed a small sigh of relief. Furtively navigating the constraints of their situation and Tsuta’s ornery attitude was a challenge. Much more so for her than it was for him.

“Asaya, come here.” Itachi asked.

Her eyebrow arched, questioning his motives. “I’m sitting right here.”

“Just do me the favor.”

She got up from the chair to stand beside him. “And?”

He stiffly held out his tea mug to her.

“Oh, bullshit!” Asaya narrowed her eyes at him, only half serious. She gestured to the other side of the kitchen. “You’re a man- with man hands. You can get it yourself.”

“Please?”

She stared at him a moment before grabbing the mug from him and turning to add milk and sugar. Itachi heard her mutter “I hate you people.” under her breath, as well as some other obscenities he couldn’t quite catch.

Returning with the mug, she stiffly handed it to him. “Here.”

Itachi turned his body to face her. Looking her in the eyes, he took the cup from her small hand and brought it to his lips to drink. She had added milk but no sugar. “Thank you.”

Shrugging, Asaya made to sit back down, but a stray hand around her wrist stopped her. Itachi pulled her down into his lap, where she straddled him. “You think you’re funny.”

“I do.” Asaya smiled and draped her arms around his shoulders. “And you are being terribly conspicuous.” She pressed her forehead against his.

Itachi said nothing, instead encircling an arm around the small of her back, pulling her into him. He nestled his face into her neck where he kissed her collar bone. Asaya rested her chin on the top of his head, softly sighing in the sensation of his embrace. She had missed him, more than she could ever say. He began to suckle on her neck, for which he was rewarded with a small moan. “Oh…”  To hear her again…

The hand that had been resting on the kitchen table moved to grasp her thigh. Moving his lips up her neck, Itachi’s met hers in a series of needy kisses. She moaned a little louder into his mouth, and arched her back into him, trying so hard to push closer. His other hand slithered up her arm to pull down the strap of her tank top. She helped pull down the other one and pushed the whole top down to rest around her abdomen, revealing a plain white bra. His hand snuck around to fiddle with the clasp, which was no struggle to unhook. Once undone, he eagerly removed the inhibiting piece of clothing, and wantonly discarded it on the floor beside them. The fair skin of her breasts now freely exposed to him, he eagerly grasped one and kneaded it in his palm, leaning in again to kiss and nip at her neck. Blood surged through his body. The feel of her supple flesh in his hands was ecstasy.

Asaya closed her eyes and lost herself in the mix of sensations: his hand on her breast, his lips on her neck, the sound of his breath in her ear, his body pinned beneath her. “Nnh…” A small sting came from her left hip. Itachi’s hand, which had been grasping her thigh, maneuvered under her shorts and now hooked itself under the panty line over her hip, his nails lightly digging into her flesh. Knowing she couldn’t make an audible sound, she inhaled sharply and heaved her chest in labored breaths.

Asaya was about to reach for Itachi’s belt when a loud groan echoed from down the hall. They immediately pulled away from each other.

“It’s Kisame.” Itachi didn’t need to tell her- she could identify it well enough.

She hastily pulled up her top back up while she stood up. Smoothing out the bunched fabric of her shorts she scanned the area. “Where is my-? Oh…” 

Itachi held out her bra, “Hide it.”

Snatching it from him, she reacted quickly. There wasn’t time to put it back on so… She scrambled over to the countertop. Opening a lower cabinet- the one she retrieved the kettle from- she threw the article of clothing in, slammed the door shut, then turned back to face Itachi. He arched an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. _“What?”_   her body language seemed to say.

Kisame rounded the doorframe with a loud yawn. Looking at the table, he saw Itachi sitting with two cups of tea before of him. Two? His eyes shot around the room. Asaya was standing with her back to the counter along the far wall. The Shark’s drowsy frame of mind took a minute to comprehend the situation. “So you’ve already explained our mission. Good.”

Itachi didn’t answer, and instead kept his gaze firmly positioned on Kisame, jaw shut.

“Ah, well… what is there to eat in this place?” Switching his concentration back to food, Kisame made his way over to the fridge. It had been a few days since he had last had any substantial meal, as he and Itachi had needed to travel from Kirigakure in as little time as possible.

Grabbing the handle, Kisame looked again at Asaya. They way her lip curled up and twitched ever so slightly, the way her beady eyes didn’t blink, the way her fingers clenched the edge of the countertop- like a cat about to mutilate a rodent. She _despised_ him. It was so… exhilarating.

Itachi’s teeth began to grind as he saw the inner workings of Kisame’s mind reflect in his yellow eyes.

“Kisame, we will be departing by morning, so eat now and rest. We have no time to waist on fatigue tomorrow.” Itachi’s voice was a half step lower then he meant it to be.

“I see.” Refocusing on the fridge again, Kisame examined its contents. To his displeasure, there were scarce contents. A stray cabbage here, a half gallon of milk there. Upon closer inspection though, there was a small helping of raw ground beef tucked away in a top drawer. With a small huff, he took it and turned to go back the way he came, leaving the fridge door open.

Looking straight past Itachi through the doorway, Asaya growled in a low tone, “Fucker.”

Standing up from his chair, he grabbed both of their tea mugs and made his way over to close the fridge door with a foot, then to the sink to stand next to Asaya. “Here,” he held out the mug to her. “It’s getting late. You’ll need this.”

Asaya carefully took it in both hands, and held it very close to her chest. The warmth from the cup dispersed into her numb hands. “Thanks.” She muttered softly.

There was a splash in the sink as Itachi dumped his tea. Turning on the faucet, he rinsed out the cup and set it on the drying rack. “Be sure to get some sleep. I’ll see you again in the morning.” He gently rested a hand on her shoulder.

At his touch, she instinctively raised her own hand to rest on his. “You, too.”

Itachi lingered there for a moment before gently removing his hand and turning towards the door. “Goodnight,” he whispered.

“Night.” She said.

The two red and green scrolls remained sitting on the table, taunting her. “Ugh…” This was not going to be a fun night. She walked over to the table with slumped shoulders and placed the mug on the edge while she leaned over to scoop up the two objects. Leaning back up, her elbow hit the mug and knocked it off the table. The ceramic cylinder shattered upon hitting the wooden floor and the hot liquid splashed her feet.

Asaya closed her eyes, frustrated. She wanted very much to walk away and clean it up tomorrow, but that wouldn’t do. She retrieved the towel off of the oven door and knelt down to mop up the spilled tea.

A series of quick footsteps thudded down the stairs. “Hey, what was that noise?” Tsuta poked his head around the doorframe. Growing up around ninjas, he knew it was always better to investigate.

“Nothing.” She said flatly. “I just broke the mug.”

No one else was in the room, Tsuta noticed. “Here, let me help you.” He motioned towards her, then stopped when she commanded,

“Don’t. You’ll cut yourself.” She picked up the ceramic shards and wrapped them in the towel, then took it over to the trash bin and dumped the whole thing. The towel was more of a rag anyway. “I thought you said you were going to bed.” She said. “If you don’t sleep you can’t get any work done tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like I have a deadline. We’re here almost all the time, you know.”

They were referring to the renovating and cleaning that needed to be done in the house. It was an old farmhouse that had long been a secret post for Iwa. However, Asaya and Tsuta were the only ones to have occupied it since the war with Konoha, so the house looked a little more than neglected.

Located on the base of the mountain range bordering the lands of Earth and Grass, it was hidden just within the boundary of a dense forest. It was about half a day’s walk from the nearest village: close enough to blend in with the community, but far enough to conduct covert operations. This included ones that needed to be kept secret to all but select few in Iwa, like liaising with a universally condemned criminal organization. But “border security” and “reconnaissance” worked for appearance’s sake. A big part of this setup, though, was that in exchange for Akatsuki’s services, Iwa would offer its own.

“Well, my work does have a deadline. So I guess I should get started.” Asaya said while picking up the two scrolls from the table. She ruffed up Tsuta’s hair as she walked past him and headed to her workroom. “Night, kiddo.”

“Night.” He called after her.

* * *

 

It was a little after four in the morning when Asaya finished her work. Had it not been so late when she began, she might have finished earlier, but it really didn’t matter.

Leaning back from the desk, Asaya let her arms hang loosely at her side. Her eyes felt small and stiff. The study was a small room, located on the east half of the building, directly underneath her room. It was also one of only three rooms that had electricity since she needed a lamp to work in the dark. Although, the electricity was supplied by a chain of extension cords and an adapter that ran from an outlet in the kitchen. She looked at the red numbers on her clock, then out the open window.

The window was nice and large, and had a wonderful view of the sunrise, but that wouldn’t be for another hour or so. Standing up, Asaya streatched her arms and back. Sitting hunched over a desk for too long never felt good, no matter how comfy the cushion. Through the window, a nice, cool breeze drifted in and across the sweat on the back of her neck. It was nice. Seductively nice.

She yawned, rubbing her eyes. Maybe a small nap before she had to patrol the area at 6 wouldn’t be so bad? It wasn’t like she was going to find away to stay up for a couple hours by sitting at the desk.

Asaya pressed her had against the wall next to the bookshelf. The wall clicked, and a hidden door opened to reveal a ladder that led to her bedroom in the attic. When she climbed to the top, she pushed a trap door in the floor open. Heaving herself halfway up, she noticed that someone was in her bed.

She should have known. He was welcome there, of course, but she knew that if she joined him she wouldn’t get out of bed later when she needed to. Screw it, right now was a good a time to patrol as any. She slid the floorboard back into place as she climbed back down and made for the front door.

After slipping on her shoes, she opened the old screen door with a rusty screech. She and Tsuta really needed to replace the hinges. The door slammed shut behind her.

* * *

 

Itachi awoke to the sound of a metallic screech from the other side of the house. The sound was softened by the distance, but its unnatural pitch grating his eardrums woke him immediately. The slamming of the door let him know someone was probably exiting instead of entering.

 The soft fabric of Asaya’s sheets was draped over his bare chest. It was nice to sleep in this bed again, but it would have been warmer with company.

Rolling onto his back, he looked out the circular window. It was too dark outside to be the regular time she patrolled. She must have decided she wanted to get out of the house.

Or perhaps she decided she didn’t want to come to bed for some reason…

No matter thinking about it. He would meet her in an hour or so when the sun would rise. Like he promised

Closing his eyes, Itachi drifted back to sleep.

* * *

 

In the last quarter of the rout, Asaya cursed herself. She should have crawled into bed and slept. Not that it was cold now, but the bed would have been so cozy…

But every day she had to make two trips around the area; one at sunrise and one just after sunset. Honestly, if she wanted to she could probably skip them and it wouldn’t matter. Nothing ever happened out here. It wasn’t like any S-class criminals ever showed up somewhat regularly.

She walked this same road every time too. A small dirt road right along the boarder between Earth and Grass countries. On one side were the short, thin, and dense trees of the forest under the mountain range. On the other was just grass. Countless yellow-green blades that stretched well beyond one’s ability to see. Grass that swayed in the wind like the rippling ocean once one had sailed well past the shore.

But unlike the shore, the dirt road did not ebb and flow. It was not even a littoral zone that sheltered a unique ecosystem of plant and animal life. It was a line of soil made infertile by just enough people traveling it regularly to squash plant life before it even germinated. People like her. Two feet to the left was where no saplings dared sprout. Two feet to her left was a different country. Two feet from the road was where she could not step.

The view was almost always beautiful, though admittedly the forbidden was inherently attractive. The simplicity of the grass below a huge sky was enchanting. The world was observable in a scope and clarity otherwise obscured by mountains and trees; rain falling over a distant town while one stayed dry in the sun, the spiraling solar system shifting as the earth tilted and spun on its axis, even the weight of the air as it condensed and expanded with changes barometric pressure.

Asaya’s sweaty, exhausted figure clashed with the beautiful scenery. At some point she had tied her hair up into a messy bun to keep the humidity from building up behind her neck. Her cheeks were stained with a red fluster and a sweaty sheen coated her shoulders and chest. The tank top she wore was awkwardly twisted around her torso and its neckline skewed to one side. Dark circles framed her eyes, amplified by a puffy squint.

“You look terrible. You should have come to bed.”

Asaya smiled. She had been too tired to hear him creep up behind her. “ _Thanks_. I wanted to, but it was occupied.”

“So make room for yourself. If you want something, take it.”

Blushing, Asaya turned around. Itachi stood in front of her, his neutral stare giving no indication he was joking. And in her lethargic state she almost missed it. “I suppose I should have.” She smirked. “What are you doing here? I thought you had to leave ASAP.”

“Kisame won’t wake up until ten, if I’m at all lucky.” He turned to walk towards the trees. “Come, sit with me.” He picked a spot leaning against the trunk of a large tree and sat with one outstretched leg.

Running her tongue over her teeth, she thought for a moment. She knelt beside him, but instead of sitting next to him she crawled into his lap.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“You said if I want something I should take it.” She untied her hair and rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes.

“You are being terribly conspicuous.” He said.

“Yeah? I’m not the one who took my bra off in the kitchen.” She had since put a new one on, of course, but she would have to remember to take that particular one out of the cabinet when she got home.

Itachi almost laughed. “How was unsealing the scrolls?”

 She let him change the subject. “Fine. Same stuff I’ve done before. Nothing special. I left them on my desk for you, if you were wondering.”

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her an inch closer. Sure they were out in the open, but no one was around for miles. And moments like this weren’t all that often.

“What did you think of the book?” He heard the tiredness in her voice. She was about to pass out, but if she did he didn’t know when their next chance to speak would be.

“Oh, right. I forgot.” She brightened up just a little. “I didn’t finish it. Sorry. I will next time.”

“But are you enjoying it?”

“Yes. It manages to be quite endearing for how dark it can be.”

Itachi rested his chin on her head. “Good.” That was all he really wanted to know. That she enjoyed it too.

“I was a little surprised you recommended it. You usually like denser, philosophical reads.” She said. “This is the kind of book you like just because.”

“It seemed like something you’d like; something both light in tone and dark in subject.”

Asaya said nothing and waited for him to elaborate.

“I read it when I was a child. I have certain nostalgia for it.” He ran his fingers through her hair. Hair that was a light, ashy brown color like that of a wild rabbit’s. At this point, that particular color and gentle curls were all he could really perceive when he looked at her. Her eyes were the same light brown, and in certain light they would reflect gold, but that was just a memory now.

“I see.” She sounded tired again. “Did someone read it to you?”

“No.” He said. It was the opposite, in fact. “It’s just something I remembered enjoying.”

The rise and fall of his chest lulled her. Asaya wanted to keep talking, but the energy to form sentences eluded her. She grabbed his arm and held it tightly, like she was trying to anchor him there.

Before them, the stars disappeared as the sky turned from black to a dark blue. A thin layer of mist gently hovered and swirled over the grass, emanating a subtle, unearthly glow as it absorbed whatever celestial light there was. From the trees came the first chirps of nesting birds as they awoke from slumber.

Itachi felt her weight lean against him just a bit more as her muscles relaxed and her grip on his arm loosened. She was falling asleep.

Lifting a hand to caress her cheek, Itachi tucked a stray hair behind her ear, in which he softly whispered, “I can’t be here when you wake up.”

Asaya was already half lost to sleep, but the sensation of his breath on her ear and neck aroused her enough to hear him. “I know.”

* * *

 

The sun had broken into the sky, disintegrating the shroud of mist with its rising heat. Itachi held Asaya for a time much more fleeting than the eternity he wanted. She was in a deep enough sleep that he could tenderly kiss her forehead without her so much as twitching. Maneuvering out from under her, he carefully rested her under the shade of the tree. He hesitated a moment before walking away. The sun wasn’t particularly strong or hot yet, but he worried about her fair skin burning.

Gazing at her sleeping figure one last time before leaving, Itachi whispered a word of departure and turned back towards the house. In time, he would be back. At least once more.

* * *

 

Through a small crack between navy curtains, a tiny beam of sunlight aimed itself directly into the face of a sleeping boy. Irritated by the intrusion of daylight into his slumber, Tsuta rolled over and covered his face with a pillow.

This was but a vain effort to fall back asleep. There was a new problem; the urge to relieve himself. Maybe if he just ignored it, it would go away?

No.

Groaning in defeat, Tsuta flung the covers from his body. There was no sense in trying to sleep when nature decided otherwise. Tsuta dragged his feet as he walked down the hall to the last door on the left. A loud flush resonated from the bathroom as Tsuta concluded his business. Now he could shuffle himself back to bed and finish his much needed rest.

However, the clock on the hallway wall begged to differ. The hour and minute of 1:34pm was boldly displayed on its face. The detestable thing hung itself right in front of Tsuta, just to break his dream he was sure.

Wait, hadn’t Itachi said he and Kisame would leave early that morning? If so, then they would be long gone by now, in which case he could safely go downstairs and make breakfast. Or really, a late lunch as it was far past morning.

The sound of Tsuta’s footfalls reverberated throughout the house as he trampled down the stairs. A stagnant air always loomed in the house whenever any of the Akatsuki ‘visited,’ and a breath of freshness flowed anew whenever they left. Sunlight cheerfully shown through the windows and into the kitchen, uninhibited by any form of overcast. The absence of the criminals really did brighten the house back up.

The only form of disturbance within the kitchen was the grumbling of Tsuta’s stomach. Having missed breakfast and now being overdue for lunch, the boy was a little more than hungry. But what to eat? The instant ramen he usually made whenever he and Asaya needed to visit town was unappealing at this point.

Speaking of which, where was she anyway? Probably upstairs drooling on her pillowcase in a deeper sleep than he had previously been, he guessed. Bottomless, quite possibly.

But anyway, back to food. If not ramen, then what else was there? Cereal was out of the question, as they had run out of milk a week ago, and he wasn’t in the mood for something cold and fibrous. Something warm and full of protein was what he needed. And as he remembered, there were some ground beef leftover in the fridge. As he opened the door he looked into the top drawer. “Oh, fuck no…” The drawer was empty. “That bastard…” Tsuta grumbled to himself. If only he had the means to punch Kisame in the face. Hard.

Seeing as there were no realistic means by which to accomplish that longstanding dream, he might as well concentrate back on satisfying his empty stomach. On the door of the fridge was a full carton of half-dozen eggs. Perhaps scrambled eggs weren’t too bad. After grabbing two from the shelf, he placed them on the counter top next to the stove. He knelt down to open the lower cabinet assigned to storing pots and pans. Reaching in a hand, he was surprised to pull out something made of white cloth. Upon further examination Tsuta found the item to be shaped from two cotton half spheres and a few elastic straps: a bra.

“ _The fuck…?”_

 


	2. Rabbits on the Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place directly after chapter 1, "What Did You Think?"

Dawn.

The bright sun of an early spring morning shined down onto an open meadow. All forms of life were alive and flourishing. The flowers, now in full blossom, proudly flaunted their colors, each hue sprinkled throughout a background of the brightest green. Small perching birds remained nested and sang little notes as they coddled their hatchlings. Even the insects, with their penchant for irritating all inhabitants, politely respected the hallowed moment. And everything, down to each individual blade of fresh, green grass was slicked with sweet dew. 

In a scant canopy of tall grass, a pair of rabbits remained close together, a black one sleeping peacefully and another white one munching quietly on their lofty surroundings. The sleeping one’s chest lightly rose and fell with the tempo of its slow breathing, and its leg twitched every so often in delight of what may have been an engaging dream.

The white rabbit abruptly stood up onto its hind legs, rotating its ears from side to side. Just a moment before it thought it heard a rustling from beyond the grass. It turned its head sharply to the right. This time sure it heard the soft sound of a predator’s cautious footsteps.

Leaning back down, the white rabbit slowly made its way over to its sleeping mate, and gave it a nudge. The eyes of the black one blinked a couple times as they stared into the deep red of the other’s, who nudged its partner again, clearly uneasy. Though drowsy, the black one was quickly brought to attention when it too heard the rustling. Now on all fours, it followed closely behind the white one as they crawled back towards their burrow.

From in front, the white one halted. Only two feet from their sanctuary, the black one wondered what could be wrong. Why halt now, when safety was so close?

The white rabbit again shifted its ears from side to side, listening closely for any sound to indicate what lurked hidden behind the grass.  It heard nothing. No sound emanated from around them: no whistling wind, no tweeting from birds, not even the infernal buzzing of a stray bumble bee. Was whatever had been there gone now? No, it couldn’t be…

I front of them a crimson burst erupted through the emerald stocks of grass.  It pounced and landed, clawed feet only an inch or so from the white rabbit. Now looming over it was the sickeningly yellow eyes of a red fox, staring directly into the red of the rabbit’s. Their black pupils communicated the perpetual understanding between predator and prey; _run_.

In an instant both rabbits turned and fled. The pair moved their feet under them as fast as they could, and the red fox covered their footprints. At a rapid pace they darted through the underbrush, gaining for themselves a slight lead. Between grass, bushes, and roots they ran until they entered unto the flat expanse of an open field.

Against the lush green of their new background, the two differed dramatically in their individual ability to camouflage. The black rabbit, with its apt dark hue, easily blended in with the shadows cast between the hills. Its white companion, however, could be as easily seen as a flamingo in a bevy of swans, even despite the dim light of morning.

A few strides into the field the white rabbit, running side by side with the black one, slowed to a stop and looked back at the underbrush through which they previously came. Where was the fox? There was no trace of even the faintest movement within the tall grass. Had it gone? Were they safe?

From a ways ahead the black rabbit noticed the absence of its mate’s footfalls. It too stopped, and looked back for the other. Immediately black eyes set upon the pristine white of the other’s coat. The white rabbit was still looking back at the path through which they came. What was it waiting for? The fox, though not in sight, would certainly catch it.

The black rabbit’s heart pounded faster. It turned and hurried towards its companion, only to be halted when an illustrious white head turned and red eyes locked its own profound black. Anxious, a long ear inquisitively rotated on the axis of a black head: _what are you waiting for_?

The same red flame spewed forth from the between the blades of tall grass. The fox curled its jowls back to expose threatening canine teeth, yellowed by extensive use and years of accumulated tarter. A slick sheen of saliva outlined the corners of a black muzzle, and the pink tissue of a tongue protruded ever so slightly from between sharp incisors. Ears and eyes were pinned forward to lock directly onto the small form of opaque white fur.

The white rabbit bolted off again as soon as it saw the flaring red of its predator. It looked straight forward at the feint outline of the other. From ahead, the black rabbit stood still as it restlessly waited for its mate to catch up. It had seen a small, abandoned hole up ahead in which they could both hide. If they could just reach it together…

But the fox was so close on the white plume running ahead. A little rabbit heart pumped blood as fast as it possibly could, lungs intaking and expelling air even faster. It concentrated on the shadowed figure of the black rabbit waiting up ahead. Didn’t it know to run? If it lingered, there was the very real possibility that the fox would kill it too. And the white one was directly leading the fox to it…

In a split second, the white rabbit turned on its hindquarters in a sharp ninety degree angle to the left. The red fox, which was thrown off for a second, spun its back legs out and tried to quickly regain composure and follow its prey. It fell back a foot or so behind the closure it had on the rabbit.

Both the hunter and the hunted now grew tired. The fox now ran with its mouth gaping open, teeth bared and breathing hard, causing a froth of saliva to drip from a swollen mucous membrane. The rabbit fluctuated its tiny lungs as efficiently as it could, diffusing as much oxygen as possible to tired muscles. Its pink nose began to feel raw with the sting of air forced too quickly in and out of the small passage.

The fox knew that if it didn’t capture the rabbit soon, it would collapse and its hunt would be for nothing. Quite possibly the rabbit knew this too as it pushed forward and back into the direction of the stocks of grass from whence they came.  If it could reach them then possibly it could lose the fox and hide until safe.

From a hill on high the black rabbit watched as its white partner darted away. Where was it going? Its own heat beat fretfully as it followed the direction the other ran off in, easily keeping the two in sight from its elevated position.

The pair below raced madly, each trying desperately to reach their own goal. The white rabbit was almost free now, only a short distance from shelter, chest lightening in anticipation. Luminous white feet placed themselves in perfect stride. Until its front-right paw fell upon a minute and very tangible pebble.

In an undying instant the immaculate form of the white rabbit tumbled to the ground. The air in its chest froze as it smashed itself face first into dirt. Seizing its chance, the fox thrust its fangs forward and into the delicate jugular of its prey. The white rabbit didn’t even notice as it lost consciousness. 

In the distance, the black rabbit watched every moment as the image of the red fox lunged over its mate. Its body arrested itself, lungs unmoving, yet the pounding of a tiny heart rung in ebony ears as the horror sunk in.

The white rabbit was dead.

* * *

 

With a sharp intake of breath Asaya awoke. Her eyes gawked open and she immediately sat up. Shaking hands clutched her wavering chest, as a cold sweat coated her face and a hot chill ran down her spine. _What was that?_ She wondered. Whatever that dream was had been was too real. She hadn’t had a dream as vivid and heartrending in years, if ever. No, that was no dream. It was a nightmare. About rabbits of all things.

With a deep sigh Asaya fell down to lie on her back, splaying her arms out beside her. She took a few more deep breaths, and looked up at the lacing branches above her. _Branches? When did I get here?_ It didn’t take long before she remembered resting beside a tree with Itachi. The same tree she was still under now. He must have left her sometime after she had fallen asleep, like he had said he would.

Asaya blinked as she looked up at the sky. She must have been asleep for a long while, as there was no longer any light in the sky- no sunlight anyway. The only source of luminance was the ambiguous cluster of stars that shown through the otherwise empty night sky. There was no moonlight either, as that sphere had disappeared at the end of its rebirth cycle. (…was hiding in the beginning of its cycle of rebirth.)

Out in the country, the stars were much more vivid. Whenever Asaya looked up while she lived in Iwagakure, she always noted that the ubiquitous lamp lights, hung to guide people as they crossed over the villages many bridges, diluted the intensity of the night sky, making its fine details vanish. Effectively though, those same lamp lights had their own equally pleasing view, gently swaying in the breeze as they emanated an ethereal glow.

Rolling onto her side, Asaya could see the grass fields of Kusagakure. They looked peaceful. A soft rustle echoed into her ears as wind rolled across the tall stocks, making them bend and wave in rustling motions. _Maybe there are rabbits out there too…_ She thought mockingly. If there were, they would most likely be sleeping, and dreaming their own dreams, but no matter.

As of now, Asya was alone, and out at night in this scenery it was too depressing to be without someone else.  She propped herself back up and sat cross legged, elbows resting on her knees, and gave another glance at the field.

That immeasurable distance before her was unknown territory, as she was not allowed to set foot beyond the border. Doing so would have been viewed as an act of treason against her own country and a declaration of war against Kusa.

Standing up, Asaya dusted off her clothes and pulled them back into place from the skewed position sleeping on dirt had left them in. She untied her bun and used her fingers to comb out her hair. Small partials of debris had found their way into the fine strands of her black hair. And a few tangles needed to be removed too. It had always bothered her that no matter how thoroughly or frequently she combed it, her infuriatingly thin strands would always carry a hidden kink. After she was satisfied with her improvised grooming, she tied up her hair again in another bun equally as untidy as the first (despite the intention to keep herself manicured) and then turned and headed back towards the house. Soon, she would be home and safe to relax.

* * *

Just up one final hill was the house. It stood stark and desolate; shingles and siding barely clung to its frame and extensive weather damage gave almost no hint to whatever color the wood had originally been stained. But to Asaya it was a welcomed haven.

As she approached closer, she could see a light originating from the corner of the house occupied by the living room. Tsuta must have still been awake. How late at night was it anyway? Hopefully not too late, as Asaya didn’t want to upset her delicately arranged sleep schedule too much.

Treading up to the front door, she lazily kicked off her sandals to the side, twisted the doorknob, and quietly snuck in. If she was quiet enough, she could avoid Tsuta and whatever explanations he would demand of her extended disappearance. At least until tomorrow. Luckily, being a trained kunoichi left her more than sufficiently trained to avoid detection from a simple teenage boy. Though despite those teachings, Asaya couldn’t help but take a small peek through the small crack in the living room’s sliding door, to look in on whatever Tsuta might be up to…

Tsuta slept on his back across a small, worn futon. His right arm rested over his eyes and a wonton leg hung over the side his makeshift bed. Sleeping without a pillow forced his head to tilt back at an unusual angle, causing his jaw to hang open ever so slightly. On the low table before him rested an open book and a half empty cup of cold tea. _He must have stayed up late for me,_ she realized.

It was a wonder how someone as large as Kisame was able to make himself comfortable on that feeble piece of furniture. She and Tsuta were only able to fit because of their short height, and Tsuta just barely now that he was in the middle of another growth spurt. Sparsely had Asaya ever actually seen Kisame sleep on the furnishing, but she imagined he looked like an overgrown toddler trying to fit back into the crib of its infancy.

Chuckling, Asaya slowly opened the door and crept inside. She wouldn’t need to worry about him waking, he slept deeply enough. Over the back of the futon lay a cotton quilt, stitched from uncountable squares of miscellaneous patterns. Neither she nor Tsuta remembered where the thing had come from; simply that it had always been in the house. Asaya grabbed the quilt from over him and unfolded it in both hands. With a gentle motion she draped it over Tsuta’s sleeping body. Tenderly she tucked him in, and stroked his cheek as she whispered a soft goodnight.

After her maternal moment, Asaya turned around to the table to pick up the teacup and book. Examining the piece of literature in her hands, she immediately recognized it. It was small and thin, not even two hundred pages in length. On the cover of the navy clothbound book the title was displayed in faux gold foiling; _Watership Down_. A big grin appeared on Asaya’s face as she read the title. This was the book Itachi had given her. Apparently Tsuta had found it from wherever she had left it.

Asaya bent over and blew out the oil lamp on the table. Unfortunately, the kitchen was the only room in the house with any form of electricity, unreliable as it was. Leaving the book on the table for Tsuta, she took the teacup with her as she exited the room, heading towards the kitchen where she would rinse out the cup and set it on the rack to dry. After doing so she trotted upstairs to her own room.

After opening the door, her eyes immediately settled on her own bed. It too was a futon, but thankfully larger and with a much more comfortable mattress. The sheets were laid out perfectly, as if no one had ever used them. Itachi must have arranged them before he left. Though she was thankful for his generosity, it troubled her at the same time. His immaculate assembling of her sheets gave the bed a characteristic emptiness whenever he left. As if he had never been there at all…

_Maybe that was his intention…,_ Asaya thought, then immediately shook herself out of her forlorn disposition. There was no sense in sulking. Itachi would be back eventually, she just had to wait.

Treading over to her dresser, she changed out of her dirty clothes and into a new set of lightweight pajamas. Tonight was another humid tempest and she didn’t like to feel hot and sweaty in her own bed. Asaya already felt a coat of grime on her body, but decided to forgo taking a shower for sake of how exhausted she still was. Besides, as soon as she woke up she’d just have to patrol again.

Crawling into bed, Asaya laid awake for only a few moments before she fell back asleep, this time to hopefully not dream about rabbits. 


	3. Wintersong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ....drivel....
> 
> Takes place long before Chapters 1 and 2

In the cold of an early December’s night, the dulcet sound of music faintly rang outside the doors of a small auditorium.  Elegantly each note pattered on walls and out through the cracks and crevices between doors and windows. The premiere attraction was a mixed repertoire of soloists, each playing a few masterworks on their instrument of choice. The attraction warranted a full house of listeners, including one that didn’t bother to pay for a ticket.

Upon the rooftop huddled the extra listener, apt to hear the pleasantries after a long week of travel.  Asaya was eager to hear this performance two days ago when she and her two “escorts” entered the city. A small poster on the door of the inn they were staying at let her know there would be such a performance, so she decided to use it as an excuse to take a break from her company. Traveling with them was uneasy at best. There were days when not a single word was exchanged between the three of them. Save for maybe a couple lines about what ever direction they were headed in. She had been traveling with them for god knows how fucking long and she still didn’t know why they took her or where they were going, just that whatever or wherever it was would probably be at least slightly dangerous.

At least they were in town now, and she could sleep in a hotel, with warm sheets and real food. Camping outside on the cold winter ground next to two S-class criminals lost all excitement long ago. No matter, she was at least able to get away for this small moment and collect her thoughts…

Oh, how they infuriated her! Besides the obvious distain Asaya acquired initially after they abducted, restrained, and beat her, they were just downright unpleasant to be around. The large, blue mutant known as Hoshigaki Kisame constantly rough housed her whenever he got the chance. Though his measures were extreme, she couldn’t exactly claim that she had been the most obedient captive. She had tried to run more than once from them, and twice managed to successfully get away, if only for a short time. Now at first sign of her taking any step out of line Kisame would hurl her violently to the floor, possibly with a couple swings of his fist; to set the precedent that she would not, under any circumstances, be allowed to escape again.

Uchiha Itachi was entirely different matter. Although he was the one who abducted her, he had since only disciplined Asaya once after she had made her second escape attempt, an experience she didn’t want to repeat. He was always quiet and reserved, with a gaze that Asaya wouldn’t dare to look into. The hollow black of his eyes weighed down upon her as if she were stripped naked in front of him, as if he could see every sin she had ever dared to commit. Before him she was nothing more than a mere blemished soul, displayed under an omniscient god to determine her final judgment.  Whatever went on within his mind was a complete enigma, although she knew that the young man was more than capable of inflicting greater harm to her then his partner ever could.

She supposed that Kisame and Itachi weren’t entirely successful in their attempts to control her, as here she was now, away from them, alone, sitting on top of an auditorium, and huddled in a blanket she stole from one of the rooms they rented.  Although, she knew that in reality there was no sense in trying to get all the way back to Iwa, so she understood that she would eventually have to go back, or wait for one of them to find her.

Asaya was only able to get away because the Uchiha had left her in the care of Kisame while he went off and took care of whatever “business” she apparently needed to know nothing about. Kisame, being his lovely self, went to the bar downstairs and drank himself three sheets to the wind, while he left her tied up in the closet, for some reason confident that she wouldn’t try anything. Of course she would try and get out, if only for a bit.

Out on the rooftop, Asaya actually had a good view from where she sat next to a vent in the ceiling. From the vantage point, she had a bird’s eye view of the stage, complete with fairly good acoustics. The vent she looked into was meant to provide an escape for the smoke and heat from the many chandelier candles illuminating the grand auditorium. Every so often there was a stray waft of candle smoke, causing Asaya to crinkle her nose and look away, but for the most part her experience was a pleasure, despite the aching cold of the season.

A cry of applause echoed into her ears as a cellist finished his final solo. The volume that the cellist evoked from the audience was well deserved, and nearly masked all other sound from entering Asaya’s small and frozen ears. Almost…

The tread of a man’s footprints traveled into her ears as well. The intruder clearly made no attempt at hiding his presence from her, with chakra flaring and heavy steps; he wanted to be noticed. “What are you doing?”  By his tone she could tell the man clearly didn’t expect an excuse reasonable enough to satisfy him. By his voice she could also tell that it was the Uchiha who stood behind her now. Asaya looked over her shoulder at him. The Uchiha stood in full uniform. The traditional red clouded cloak adorned his frame, and his sugegasa’s cloth strips motioned gently in the wind.

Asaya did not reward him with an answer, and instead huddled herself back into the blanket she had stolen from their hotel. She ignored him as she gazed back into the vent.  “Have you gone deaf?” He spoke again, only half expecting an answer.

Whenever the young woman conflicted with them she knew to hold her tongue. Any form of resistance by verbal assault was not kindly met, so she had learned quickly the advantages of silence, as well as other boundaries she could and couldn’t cross. Her apt intelligence as a captive was one of the few qualities he enjoyed about the girl, as it made the task of managing her much less stressful. Unfortunately though, this particular situation he found them in now was not exemplary of her behavior.

* * *

 

Itachi had gone to the outskirts of town to speak with Zetzu, leaving Asaya with Kisame for the evening. At first he hoped that the other Akatsuki would finally give him the answer to why they needed the kunoichi, as the only instructions he was given so far were to capture and detain her until further notice. But no, all the plant-man wanted was an update on her health and wellbeing, so he could report back to Leader. The uncertainty of not knowing how long he would be stuck with her was beginning to gnaw at his peace of mind.

After giving his report to Zetzu, Itachi immediately walked back to the inn, as he was not entirely trusting of Kisame’s babysitting skills. Unfortunately Itachi’s intuition was correct. As soon as he had gotten back to check on Kisame’s room he saw that the shark had chosen to drink himself to sleep, with little thought to their responsibility. The owner of the family run establishment had his sons carry his offending  partner upstairs after causing a small ruckus and passing out. Sadly, Itachi expected better from his partner. Although Kisame normally did this when they entered town after a long travel, Itachi hoped for better considering their unusual circumstance.

Speaking of that circumstance, there was still the question of where the girl was. Itachi had last remembered leaving her in his room, with the command not to leave, and instructions to Kisame to watch her. He had seen how one half of his intentions ended, and with any luck the other would be better.

No, it was not better. His room was dark and completely unoccupied. The closet doors were open and on the floor between them lay discarded strands of rope. It seemed that Kisame, despite all his previous knowledge about the girl, thought that simple rope and a pair of flimsy doors would be sufficient enough to hold her. As Itachi looked about the rest of the room he noticed that the bed’s comforter was missing. His red eye twitched ever so slightly. This was not turning out to be a good night.

It did not take him long to find the girl. The only real reason it took any effort at all was because they were in a large city crowded with people, making it hard to pinpoint her chakra. She had made no attempt to cover her footprints, left no misleading trails, or took any means by which to hide her chakra. She did not hide in come dark crevice in the city, or even try to find an Iwa safe house; she simply sat on the roof of an elaborate building. Curious, because this girl had just been given every capability to run again, and this time possibly succeed in getting back to Iwa.

* * *

 

‘ _So why didn’t she?’_ Itachi wondered to himself as he stood behind her. “Woman, I asked you a question.”

“I have a name, you know.” She said, still not meeting his gaze.

“It’s nice to know you still have a voice. Tell me, Kagami-san, what do you think you are doing?” He asked again, bitterly.

Asaya remained quiet for a moment longer. He had used her surname. That wasn’t much better. “My name is Asaya, Uchiha-san. And I came to listen.”

“To what? The silence of your own voice?” Normally Itachi wasn’t one for sarcasm, but the situation called for it.

Asaya, looking into the vent, saw a woman in a formal dress sit down in front of a piano. She turned her head to look at Itachi, and raised a hand from within the confines of her blanket to hold a finger to her lips, then extended that finger to point into the vent. Itachi came up behind her, peering over her shoulder, inquisitive as to what she was pointing at.

A loud 7th chord shot through the air, quickly followed by a series of trills. From over her shoulder Itachi saw the black outline of a grand piano, complete with pianist. She had come to listen to music, he realized. “Music? You ran away again for this?” Really, all this trouble for a few compositions?

Silence again. Discouraged by his callous words, she didn’t feel like arguing with him.

“Kaga-“

“It’s Asaya.” She chided.

He narrowed his eyes. “Very well. If you answer my question.”

It took a moment for Asaya to organize exactly what to say. Clearly, there was no lie she could tell him, so the challenge was how to make the truth seem as reasonable as possible. “... Hoshigaki-san, he…  After he locked me in the closet, he then went downstairs to the bar, no?”

She took his silence as confirmation.

“Well, I didn’t exactly want to be there,” she cast her gaze away from him again, “when he came back…”  

Itachi’s expression relaxed, her worries were reasonable. “We were given strict orders not to… damage you.”

_Damage? What line does that draw?_ She wondered. “Orders from who? And why?” Asaya wanted to know exactly who was responsible for her misery, and since he brought it up it was a perfect time to ask.

Now it was Itachi’s turn to carefully choose an answer. Normally, he wouldn’t reveal that information to a hostage without express permission to do so, but he had been with the girl for some time now. Leader didn’t expect him to keep her in the dark for so long, there would be no point. By now she knew at least enough about Kisame and himself that whenever the Akatsuki were done with her, she would be killed. “I will answer that on the condition that you answer another of my questions: why come all the way out here, and not try to escape again?” Making her answer first would give him time to prepare an appropriate response for himself.

The question was bugging him. She had every opportunity, but instead sat there in plain sight, as if she wanted him to find her.

Taken aback, Asaya then turned to listen to the music. What was with all of these difficult questions? He never had any care for her before. “Because it would be futile. I don’t even have any idea where we are, other than that it’s not Iwa, and we have been traveling so long that we’re probably so far away I could never run without you catching me. Does that satisfy you?”

She spoke as if she had accepted being held prisoner, at least for now. Good, because it meant that he wouldn’t have to deal with any childish fits or temper tantrums. She was proving to be very level headed about the whole thing, which was a load off of his mind. “One more,”

Before Itachi could explain himself just yet, the pianist moved into her second piece. Her fingers raced up to the high end of the keys, to stay there and dance for a while, and then repeat the motions in variation.

Only thrown off for a moment, Itachi finished his statement, “Why here specifically? At this venue.”

“Isn’t that self explanatory? I saw a poster about a day ago, and I like the music, so I came.” Fair enough, he supposed that he didn’t expect any monumental explanation from her.

Through the pair’s silence, the _allegro_ tempo of the pianist hung about them in tension.

“Will you then answer my question?” She asked.

Itachi took another moment to percolate his reply. “What do you know already?”

Asaya wrinkled her nose. Was he really going to run her around the bush again? “Well, obviously you answer to some kind of authority, and there are more of you. Although, I can’t imagine too many, as you seem to be able to work internationally without being discovered, or I would have already known who you are. Other than that, I know nothing besides you and Hoshigaki-san. And the strange plant being I have seen you talk to on occasion.”

_Smart girl,_ Itachi observed. “You are correct. We are in a small international terrorist organization called Akatsuki.” He might as well tell her, with the way things were going she would figure out eventually.

“And why me?” Asaya pressed the question foreword, as it was what she most wanted to know; what they were planning to do with her.

‘ _Why me?’_ Itachi repeated. Yes, the eternal question that plagued all forms of personal misfortune; why me? “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?” Asaya was visibly upset at his answer. She had been abducted and dragged halfway around the known world by now, and for no readily available reason? What kind of great terrorist organization kidnapped a girl without a plan?

“Exactly what I said, Asaya-san. I was given no other instructions other than to detain and hold you until further notice.”

Not completely satisfied with his explanation, Asaya scowled and huddled herself further into her blanket, and focused back on the performance below them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi saw the irritation plastered on her face. At least he wasn’t the only one having a less than perfect evening.

“What did you mean by ‘damage’?” Asaya asked. She had never spoken so many words to him, leading her to feel a tad uncomfortable

Itachi drew in a deep breath. In truth, he didn’t know what that truly meant.”I can assure you, Asaya-san, that you will not be harmed to the point where you cannot continue living life as you are now.” It was a gamble, but better than saying nothing.

“And after you have found your use for me?”

“I cannot promise you anything beyond that.”

A long silence dangled between them, contrasting with the wrought piano echoing through the vent. Within that conflict, Asaya pondered the weight of her undecided future.

A harsh wind blew passed them, giving its own unique spin on the moment. Itachi stood firm and erect, not at all swayed by the element. Asaya however, covered her entire face within the stolen comforter. The top of her head remained exposed, and the length of her ashy blonde hair wisped in a laced flurry. When the wind finally passed, she again raised her head.

Nervousness slowly seeped into her veins as she comprehended the situation. She was sitting on the roof of an auditorium, having momentarily escaped from her captors with a stolen blanket, and now in awkward silence next to one of those said captors. What was he thinking anyway? Shouldn’t he have taken her back to the hotel already?

To ease her nerves, Asaya looked out at the cityscape. Bright lights stretched out over the ground, only disappearing at the shore of a distant lake. Far below, the hustle and bustle of busy salesmen, shoppers, stray animals, and many others drifted into her ears. “Are there more places like this in the world? The villages just outside Iwa are nothing like this.” She whimsically asked him, then instantly worried that she spoke out of turn once she realized she had inquired aloud.

“Many, and this isn’t even one of the largest.” Distracted by the stress of his long evening, Itachi answered without thinking.

Hearing the ease at which he answered, she immediately asked another. “Are there cities larger than the capitol?”

“A few, but this far north it is uncom-” A thought hit him midsentence. “Were you ever allowed outside your village?” The way she acted surprised by the grandeur made him question her travel experience.

A blush crept into her cheeks as the embarrassment of seeming naive. “I have been to the capitol once, a few years ago. The only missions I am sent on are in the immediate area, other than that I go a few times year to the monastery, and as you know even that isn’t a very extensive distance away…”

“I see…” Itachi knew exactly what she meant. The monastery had been where they first encountered each other. “What position are you in, to not leave far from the village for missions.” He was suspicious of her. He knew that she was no low level genin, he had seen her in action. She was a much higher level than that, making it all the more peculiar.

Caught off guard by his question, she stumbled over her words. “Oh.. Um.. Torture and Interrogation Division.”

She was lying. Itachi knew immediately. Not because she seemed an unlikely candidate for the position, being a young woman with a diminutive bearing, but because she had shown alarm at his question, followed by a pause to respond, and stumbled over her response.

“I see.” He thought it would be best not to interrogate her further. Although he now thought that whatever she was hiding was key to answer his ongoing question about her status as an Akatsuki prisoner.

Asaya’s eyes wavered as she evaluated his response. He knew she was lying, she was sure of it. But he clearly didn’t choose to pursue the truth, both a relief and a worry. For now she was safe, but when he asked later, who knew what would happen.

The pianist finished her final series of chords, and as she lifted her hands from the keys the audience erupted in another fit of applause.

Itachi took it as a cue to take himself and Asaya back to the hotel. “Come now, it is getting late.” He watched as Asaya obediently stood up and began to fold the comforter in her arms. “Leave it, I will ask for another one when we get back.”

She did as she was told and dropped it, and then followed close behind him as he turned and left.

* * *

 

As they walked through the doors of the small hotel, Itachi took off his sugegasa and immediately walked up to the bar table where the elderly innkeeper was talking with his equally aged wife. Though interrupted from their conversation, they politely looked up at their guest. “Oh, my. I hadn’t realized you were both out so late. Is there anything I can get for you two?” The old woman asked sweetly.

“My room, 218, is in need of a comforter.” The words passed easily out of Itachi’s mouth.

“I’m so sorry for the inconvenience; I will deliver a new one up shortly.”

With a short nod Itachi left to walk back towards the stairs leading to their rooms.

“Is there anything you need, dear?” The old woman spoke to Asaya, who had been following right behind Itachi.

“No, but thank you.” She answered softly, and followed Itachi back up to their rooms.

Upon reaching room 218, Itachi opened the door and motioned Asaya inside. “You will sleep here tonight. If you leave this room again, I will know.” His voice was stern, and his eyes displayed sharingan to sample exactly how much he could enforce his words. The door shut as he left her alone in the room.

_Angry, much?_ Asaya thought to herself.

The room was exactly the same as when she had left it. The closet doors still had discarded rope between them, the comforter was obviously missing. And the window was still open, so there was a freezing draft wafting around the room. The situation was soon remedied when she closed said window. Now all she had to do was wait for the room to heat up.

Asaya walked over to and sat in the blanket-less bed. Burring her face in her palms and let out an aggravated groan. Could her situation get any weirder? Now, instead of being just the captive of two thugs, she was prisoner to an international terrorist organization. And for what? Use in an underground prostitution ring?

 Before her thoughts could fall further into a pit or despair, a knock echoed off of her door. When she answered it she found the old woman from downstairs with an extra large, extra fluffy comforter. The old woman calmly walked past her and over to the bed saying, “This was the best I could find for you, and it appears I’ve chosen right, what a nasty chill.”

Still standing by the door, Asaya quietly watched as the old woman proceeded to spread the generous comforter on the bed in proper fashion.

“There, hopefully you won’t freeze while you sleep.”

“Thank you.” Asaya said.

“Ah, do not worry. Doing the small things like this are what keep my old body moving.” The old woman smiled. “Now you two-” Stopping mid sentence, the old woman realized that Asaya was otherwise alone in the room. “Oh, never mind then. Have a good night.” With a final nod she exited the room, closing the door behind her.

“Night.” Asaya blinked a couple times. _Crazy old woman,_ she thought. Yet her kindness was still appreciated.

But it didn’t matter, it was time for sleep. As she walked over to the bed, she stripped down to her underclothes, which consisted of her black underwear and a grey tank top. Before crawling in, she folded her pants, half-length kimono jacket, and obi into a neat pile.

The warmth of the comforter was welcomed as it insulated her from the chill. She curled her legs under her, and hugged the comfortable, puffy material closer around her body. It was fortunate that Itachi had let her sleep by herself in the room. She was expecting that she would have to sleep on the floor, as there were no couches or spare beds in either of the rooms.

_Wait, where will Uchiha-san sleep?_ The thought stuck in her head. Hoshigaki was sleeping in the other bed, did they-

A loud thud came from across the wall.

Asaya grimaced at the thought. It was better to not think. Now was time for sleep.

* * *

 

After leaving Asaya to herself in the other room, Itachi entered the room occupied by his partner. Stepping over to the small table in the opposite side of the room, Itachi disrobed and prepared for bed.

Passed out and snoring on top of the left side of the bed, Kisame was blissfully unaware of what awaited him. Calmly stalking over to the opposite side of the bed, he lent both of his hands to grab at the edge of the blanket, and pulled.

Kisame tumbled to the floor. He let out a groan of discomfort as his body landed in a warped position. However, the deep sleep of his drunken coma prevented him from waking up.

Satisfied with his achievement, Itachi crawled into bed himself, in desperate need of rest.

 

 


	4. Serendipity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place very early on in the timeline before chapters 1, 2, and 3.

It had been a while since Itachi and Kisame had been in Earth country, much less so close to Iwa itself. The last time the pair had been there was almost a year or so ago, when they recruited Deidara. The country, as one might presume, was filled with high mountains and deep ravines, and like now with its usual dismal overcast. Where the two Akatsuki found themselves now was mid way up a nameless member of said mountain population. Alone and far away from even the smallest village, the two camped on the side of an abandoned road overlooking their recently acquired quarry. 

“For such an uneasy girl, she sure sleeps well.” Kisame said off handedly, cutting the silence.

It was true, Asaya slept sounder than a dead cow as far as Kisame was concerned. She laid not too far off from them, curled into herself on the ground, and using her flimsy haori as insulation from the autumn chill. Other then the obvious discomfort of the environment, she held a dreamy expression on her face.

“What a troublesome thing. Why come all the way out here to grab this feeble, midget girl?” Kisame continued. In the years he had known Itachi, he had picked up the habit of rambling his inner thoughts every so often, because it wasn’t like Itachi would complain, or had anything much to say himself. Thus, Kisame was allowed to speak freely. “What are leader’s plans for her anyway? She can’t possibly be a _jinchuriki_ or a potential recruit. She clearly has no special abilities, or we would have been told.”

Leaning forward, Kisame continued, “And how are we supposed to keep her, huh? Tie her up with rope and lead?”

“She will follow without further incidence. She’s learned her lesson.” Itachi replied. They were referring to her little escape attempt about a day ago, where she managed to get two miles away before they caught her. Kisame immediately implemented her repercussions with a beating. Effectively, it got the message across.

“And we will receive further instructions soon,” He continued. “Zetsu-san should be on his way.”

“Tch,” Kisame gazed back at the sleeping girl. Fretfully, Asaya turned over in her sleep. What a pain in the ass this assignment was going to be.

Itachi sat cross legged, hands folded into his sleeves. The temperature was already cold and combined with the thin air of the altitude his fingers and toes began to grow numb. How was it that the girl was able to fall asleep so easily? Perhaps it was a natural resistance built up from living in the country, but he could also swear it was inhuman. 

At approximately five in the morning, neither he nor Kisame were very well rested, as they were both kept awake from the biting cold. Needless to say they were both a little irritated. Through his heavy squint Itachi stared intensely at their dying camp fire. Iwa was a terrible country to travel in. It was cold, there was never any sun, the wind blew damp, musky air in their faces, and the terrain was so steep and rocky they could travel no more than a few measly miles in a day.

There were no villages, towns, or any form of advanced civilization on the route they were ordered to travel. There was only one small village that they passed at the base of the mountain yesterday evening, and the ‘population’ – as it was too small to even be called a town- was so backwater that there was no inn or any other form of true commerce. The entire centre of stabilization revolved around a rice field, river, sparse livestock, and a few ramshackle houses. The villagers spoke with such a thick dialect not one of the three could communicate to ask for a place to stay. And as Asaya suggested, they may have been speaking bits of another language as well. Needless to say, they chose to forgo staying the night and traveled another few hours until they came unto where they are now; camping on the side of a long abandoned road and very unhappy.

“To have to travel all this way, is a much more extreme attempt to hide our presence within this country than ever before. This woman must be important.” Itachi took the initiative to speak his thoughts in the silence this time.

“Girl, you mean? I doubt it; we specifically have had to lay very low ever since that one visit to Fire Country about two years back. Leader-sama probably just wants to be extra careful now that we have this thing to cause complications.” Kisame’s point was valid. Ever since the failed attempt at catching the Kyuubi, the name of Akatsuki became too fluent on the tongues of many village’s higher ups. For this transgression the two were given orders to remain as low as possible, but they were never before denied access to civilization altogether.  “Besides, like I said before, if she were anything special we would have known.”

A rustling came from behind the sleeping body of their current mission. Both Akatsuki turned their heads immediately. Up from the ground, a green sprout immerged, growing taller and fuller to reach full stature as the strange being known as Zetsu. Their anticipated guest had arrived.

“My, I see you are all doing well,” Spoke the white half. “Tell me, is this one doing well too? She looks as tasty as a dead cow.” There was a clear, hungry glint in his eyes.

 Kisame smirked at his comment. “Good for this shitty place. Now what message do you have for us?”

“ **As you know, Leader-sama wants you to take a specific route out of this country.** ” The black half spoke this time, but it was the white that finished the thought. “There is a cave system below these mountains. The entrance is on the other side. You are to exit the country using the map we have provided.”

“ **You will be able to come out on the other side by sometime tomorrow, if you don’t stop for a break.** ”

Zetsu stretched out a hand holding a map, for which Itachi bent forward and grasped.

“I must warn you, if you get lost in there, chances are you will never get out alive. Ah, well then, I’ll see you on the other side!” With those final words Zetsu receded back into the ground, leaving no trace of his previous presence.

Itachi stood up and briefly looked at the map, then stuffed it into his pocket. Behind him, the sky began to brighten just the slightest bit. “Wake her up. We will leave now; the sun is starting to rise.”

Kisame stood up as well and dusted off his jacket. Only needing three steps to reach the girl, he then kicked her firmly onto her back.

Asaya immediately awoke, with a loud gasp and clutching at her stomach. After a few seconds of moaning she fluttered her eyes open to look at the offending criminal above her. _What now?_ The dread rose in her mind.

Seeing her eyes firmly fix on him, he ordered, “Get up girl. We are leaving.”

* * *

After traveling back down the mountain in total silence for some hours, Asaya and the two Akatsuki began to grow weary. The steep and rocky terrain they traveled was far too unenjoyable. About an hour ago, the dilapidated remains of the road they had been traveling disappeared altogether. Easily they adapted to simply climbing up and down and around whatever miscellaneous object may be in their way. This task was not all that difficult, but the stress of their overall situation still tugged at their minds.

Asaya simply recoiled into the seething bitterness and anxiety in her chest. The other two gave no hint as to what they truly thought. Although Asaya could tell from the fatigued looks on their faces that neither of them had gotten any rest last night, giving her a small sense of pleasure.

And then from behind thunder cracked, faintly and off in the distance, but it could still be heard. Itachi and Asaya had stopped to look back, while Kisame continued on unfazed. The standing pair could then see lightning within the high clouds. Like lace it adorned the sky for that momentary instant of ignition.

  _Aww, fuck…_ The unfortunate girl thought to herself. Though it had not started raining yet, a glance over her shoulder told Asaya all she needed to know about the oncoming storm. It was fast approaching behind them. If the trio didn’t find shelter fast they were going to be in deep trouble. The storms in the mountains of Earth Country were famous. They were violent, brutal, and could last for days. As there was sparse foliage to hold the earth together, mudslides commonly supplemented the storms as well.

The immediate problem was that there was no shelter. Within this specific mountain range there were only a few fir trees and bushes, with none of them big enough to keep even one of them from getting soaked. Much worse was the effects of the climate. The temperature was roughly five degrees Celsius; cold, but not quite cold enough to freeze. Once the rain did finally come and drench them, it would also chill them to the bone. No matter how tough they were as shinobi, they could not escape the very real threat of hypothermia.

Asaya herself had almost died from hypothermia on one occasion, and had no desire to relive the experience. What would they do in a worst case scenario? Easy, follow the survival guides she was taught at Iwa’s Academy.

_Huddle in a tight ball for warmth, and wet clothing…_ Asaya’s thoughts stopped right there. The prospect of the two men before her... _No, just no._

Needless to say this made Asaya more anxious. Turning to Itachi, who was standing only a few feet in front of her, she began to speak. Sadly she immediately found herself unable to form exactly what to say. “Um, Uchiha-san…”

Immediately he narrowed his eyes at her, and she shyly looked down at the ground instead. “What?”

“The storm, we need to find shelter.” She whispered softly.

She was right. He had heard the rumors about the storms in Iwa’s mountains, and had no particular desire to find out exactly how true they were. Hopefully, the cave they were heading towards was not too far away. “I know, we will find it soon.”

Silently he turned to follow the direction Kisame continued up ahead. Obediently, Asaya followed.

* * *

The thunder continued to boom. Over the passing time it had begun to become more boisterous, and it was clear that the storm was creeping up at an increasing rate. The trio was much farther down the mountain now, walking along the edge of a ravine. Slowly they traveled, each stepping, climbing, and jumping at their own pace.

From ahead, Kisame halted. “Oi, Itachi-san,” He called at the rear, “I think I found it.” Itachi quickly moved to stand right beside his partner, leaving Asaya stumbling to catch up. He scrutinized the landmark Kisame pointed out.

It was a two foot stone with a tiny imprint of Iwa’s rock symbol. Was this truly what they were looking for? Itachi guessed that it was the best sign they were going to find though, out in this wilderness. “Down over the edge are some stairs, but I can’t guess how far they go.” Kisame informed.

Itachi looked. There were in fact “stairs” as he had been informed, but they were so shallow and unsound, barely wide enough for one person. No doubt that at least a few would crumble beneath their feet, if they were that lucky. Unfortunately, there was no telling how far they went down. The ravine itself sunk deep into the earth, its true depths hidden in a shroud of darkness.

Asaya came up beside them to examine the rock and peer over the edge herself. “What do you think of this?” Itachi asked her.

“I’m not quite sure…” She thought for a moment, “There is probably a hideaway carved into the face of the ravine.”

Itachi considered her answer for a moment. It was risky going all the way down there, as there was a chance that they may need to climb all the way back up, wasting valuable time. The muted cry of the storm echoed behind him. “We will go down. In any case we need shelter.”

With an affirmative nod Kisame took the first leap downward.

Asaya continued to look over the edge. Though she herself did not know exactly what was down there, she knew the fact that these men had specifically looked for and found it was bad. This was not something that many in Iwa would know the existence of. Perhaps only the Tsuchikage and a few of the elders at most. It was common knowledge that Iwagakure hadn’t sent any forces to this region in over one hundred years, in one of the previous wars. Whatever was down there was abandoned and hidden for a reason.

Before she had a chance to linger to long over the edge, a haunting presence flickered beside her. Turning to look, Asaya was met with the oncoming assault that was sharingan. She winced slightly, but was otherwise able to keep eye contact.

“Go.” Was Itachi’s stern command.

Immediately Asaya scampered down the side of the cliff.

* * *

It wasn’t too far down until Kisame saw a hole in the face of the cliff. For his impressive height of 6’3”, the distance between the bottom step and the cave’s ledge was nothing more than a large step down. Behind him Asaya with her short body had to make a small leap across. Itachi was only a few steps behind and easily glided down.

“I suppose we have found it?” Kisame stated more than asked.

Before them was the entrance to a cave. It wasn’t very wide or tall. Just large enough for Kisame to walk into without trouble. There was no light inside, only the dark shadows one would expect to see.

“What did that thing Zetsu gave you say?”

In response to the question Itachi removed the map he was given from his pocket. Quietly he examined it. “This is the entrance into a cave system. If we pass through we will be able to reach the border by tomorrow.”

_A cave system?_ Asaya wondered. There were cave systems all over Iwa. But for one all the way out here to be mapped and abandoned...  Well, the prospect of what they would find was not good.

A flash of light gave a brief peak into the cave, followed by a clap of thunder.

“We will need light then.” From within his cloak Kisame pulled out a scroll, unwrapped it, and summoned a small lantern. As he led the way into the cave the others followed in the order they descended the cliff.

At first there was nothing but a narrow passageway that curved and swelled. At different points it was required to duck or slide sideways, and throughout most of the tunnel it was necessary to keep at least one hand on the wall for stability. As soon as their path widened into a full sized passageway, he tunnels began to fork off into two or more places at a time. Itachi moved to the front and took command navigating.

Eventually they reached a clearing. Although not very big, it was more than enough to accommodate the three travelers.

The lantern light revealed the space to contain some human intervention. Around the room was some miscellaneous rubble. Mostly small rocks, but also pieces of dry, aged wood were piled on one section of the wall. The wood had been some form of manmade structure, the cut and sanded edges were proof. Perhaps it had been a small shrine? However, it had decomposed and fallen to ruins long ago.

According to his history lessons, the best Itachi could guess at this place’s original purpose was in one of the previous Shinobi Wars. There was never any substantial fighting in this area, so a tunnel that connected this side of the mountain range to the other side of the border was most likely used to secretly import and export supplies or messages. 

In the center was large stalagmite, of which the top had been cut off and carved into a shallow basin. Itachi walked past Kisame and Asaya to inspect the object. Etched in the center of the basin was the kanji for light, while other small symbols decorated the rim. On the side of the structure was Iwa’s rock symbol.

_This pillar is a lantern._ Itachi realized. “Kagami-san, come here.” he bid.

Asaya did as he commanded and timidly walked to stand behind him to the left.

“Do you know what this is?” He asked.

She inspected the structure as he did, and came to the same conclusion. “…..A lantern.”

“Do you know how to activate it?”

“……No.” She only half lied. Although Asaya didn’t _know_ what hand seals needed to be preformed to activate the lantern, she was capable of finding out what they were. That little detail could be neglected. Besides, why do anything nice for these people?

“Kisame, how much oil do you have left?” Itachi asked.

“About enough to last for another few hours, but I have enough sealed away to last another few days.”

Good. If they ran out of light while running around in the tunnels their chance of survival was nothing.

Without explaining his actions, Itachi walked over to the pile of wood and grabbed three large pieces, and then set them towards the center of the room. He then drew in a deep breath, encircled his hands around his lips, and exhaled to release a small fireball, igniting the three pieces of wood. Then he retreated to sit on a large rock against the wall.

“I see.” Kisame said.

Itachi was essentially saying that they would take a break here for a while. This was more than welcome. The large blue gentleman took his own place against the wall, setting the lantern off to his side. He knew Itachi would keep first watch, as it was how their routine always worked. 

Asaya, in her awkward state as the only one still standing, glanced at the others, unsure if it was safe to do the same. She saw no indication otherwise, and so crashed against the wall too. It only took a moment before she fell back asleep.

From the corner of a sharp, tooth-white eye Kisame peered at her in a mixture of disgust and curiosity. Did she really fall asleep that fast? _Dead cow…_ he thought bitterly, jealous that she could rest so easily.

* * *

It was late and Itachi was tired. The flames he lit now only dully lapped at the remaining firewood. To stay awake he occupied himself by reading the map Zetzu had given him. It was only a small, concentrated section of a larger map. The only complete route it contained was the one connecting the entrance they came through down two or three possible paths leading to one exit. Many of the tunnels that webbed across the page were only detailed to a certain point, then left to dangle off without further explanation.

Luckily though, there was a map key. There were six small symbols, but the descriptions were illegible to him, as they were part of a code Iwagaure used and stopped using long ago. However, even if he knew the code it wouldn’t do him much good; the ink was too warn and faded to clearly make out the tiny characters. Some symbols, like a little red triangle were easily understandable; the presence of a lantern. The junction they were in now was marked with one. But others were not so simple. In a few sections of the map, there were spots littered with black diamonds. The meaning to them was completely indecipherable to him.

Enough was enough though, Itachi’s mind had become too opaque with fatigue. To his left he could see the sleeping bodies of Kisame and Asaya. Kisame gave an unpleasant snore every so often, but Asaya was completely silent, like an infant. It disturbed him, the same way a dead cow would.

As Itachi leaned his head back against the wall, a blanket of fatigue covered him. His hand dropped to the side, map falling out of his grasp. Every muscle in his body cried out its own ache. How long had he been awake? Almost three days, he’d guessed. As he closed his eyes, he concentrated on the tenderness racking his body. How good it felt to finally be able to rest and soften those muscles back up. Heavy eyelashes swelled with weight and refused to flutter back open. But it was fine; Itachi could indulge in a few more moments of…

* * *

A pair of feminine lashes shuddered awake. The eyes hiding behind them remained unfocused and translucent before they realized something; sleeping with a rock protruding into your solar plexus is rather uncomfortable.

Asaya shifted herself up and into a sitting position. She folded her torso foreword and extended her arms out in front of her. Amazingly, despite that one rock, she felt very refreshed. Her spine felt nice and stretched, her lungs were opened, and her head was bestowed with a wonderful clarity.

Those same eyes blinked a few more times as they adjusted to the light. It was dim, but Asaya could see the sleeping bodies of Itachi and Kisame. It was strange that they would fall asleep on the job, but she supposed it wasn’t too unreasonable. As long as they were underground she was trapped with them, as they were the only guide out.

A clinking sound invaded her ears. In his sleep Kisame stretched out one of his legs and knocked over the lantern.

She snapped her eyes at the abominable blue man. _Bastard_.

Oh well, what state was the other one in? Itachi was sleeping quite exhaustedly. Even through the draping form of his cloak she could see how heavily he breathed. Now that Asaya thought about it, she had never once seen Itachi sleep in all three days of travel. She almost felt sorry for him. It appeared that he was in a deep sleep too. He must have stayed awake for some time reading the map sitting at his side…

_How serendipitous,_ she thought. Asaya now found herself with a lamp, a map, and two idiots.

* * *

 

Luridly Itachi awoke from his sleep. Had he fallen asleep? He immediately chastised himself for falling asleep while on guard. This was a rookie mistake, and he demanded much greater self control.

Only the barest speck of orange glow could be seen from the remains of the fire he had made earlier. Itachi reached to his right, grabbed another couple chunks of wood from the ruined alter, then got up and added it to the fire pit that he rekindled with his jutsu.  He blinked a few times while his eyes adjusted to the new light.

Kisame snored quietly ahead of him against the wall of the enclosure. Wheezing may have been a more fitting verb. No matter, he would soon put an end to it. Itachi rose up and stood adjacent to his partner. “Kisame.” He said sternly.

“Huh, what?” Kisame said, somewhat alarmed now that he had been awoken.

“Light the lamp and wake the girl, it’s time to keep moving.” After speaking Itachi turned to walk down the one of the tunnels.

With a grunt Kisame stood up and stretched out his arms to their full wingspan, then rotated them from the shoulders both back and forth. The rough of the cave wall had done terrible things to his back. Cracking his neck from side to side, he wondered if this was the beginning of middle age setting in. He turned to where he had last seen the dead cow sleeping.

Kisame blinked twice, but otherwise not a single muscle in his face moved. “Itachi.”

“Yes?” Itachi turned his head over his shoulder to see Kisame looking at an empty spot on the ground behind them.

Simultaneously Itachi’s chest expanded, eyes narrowed, and jaw clenched.

“She can’t have gotten far without a lantern. We will probably find her sniveling in the dark if we go back the way we came.” Kisame said in an even tone, the same pensive expression on his face.  As he reached down to grab his lantern, he quickly realized it wasn’t there. “Damnit!” he harshly said between clenched teeth. “That little bitch…!”

Itachi still remained level headed. She would have most likely tried to go back the way they came, doing her best to rely on memory for the exit. Only he had a map and….

Hands diving into his pockets, Itachi’s hands both turned up empty.

* * *

 

A kaleidoscope of light wavered across the cavern walls as Asaya leapt down the pathway, quickly and quietly trying to put as much distance between her and her abductors as possible. She couldn’t have been running for more than fifteen minutes, but in that time she had covered quite a bit of ground. This had been the second time she had escaped from them, and hopefully the last time she would need to. _What idiots,_ Asaya thought as she kept running. The first time she got away she thought she was just lucky, but this time was just unexplainable. It was as if they meant to hand her the opportunity on a silver platter. Perhaps the blue oaf was easy to fool, but the other one….

He was a much more strict and self-disciplined person, much more cunning and precise. Some deity had blessed her with a minor miracle for her to get away from him. In fact, her heart still hadn’t calmed down from stealing the map. The moment when she knelt down beside him to steal it she couldn’t breathe and her entire body trembled.

Asaya slowed to a halt as she came to another clearing where the road split in four places. She pulled out the stolen map from her obi. Which way to go? Unlike what one might think, Asaya had gone further into the cave system, hoping to exit wherever they had originally been planning to. Her assailants couldn’t possibly follow her without the map. But there was a chance that if she decided to run back the way they came, the two men would somehow remember the way back and catch her running home. Again.

There were two different paths she could follow. Both were about the same distance. One was to her far left, and it was a rather roundabout way of getting there. The other slightly to her right still wasn’t a straight shot, but there were many less forks in the road. Taking a closer look at the map she noticed that a few small black diamonds were marked along that path, but the map key’s ink was too worn and faded to decipher. _I guess I’ll just have to find out…_

* * *

 

It wasn’t hard to tell that Itachi was unhappy with the two Akatsuki’s situation. Their captive- a mere girl barely old enough to be considered a woman- had escaped them not once but twice now. The first time they had let her get away was humiliating enough. She had simply slipped away while they were looking the other way. Although they caught on relatively quick, they had to chase her for about five miles until they finally caught her. And that was only what? Two, maybe three days ago? And now, not only had she escaped again, but she had also stolen their lantern, the only map, and done it all while they slept like babies.

This level of humiliation was unforgivable.

Kisame was slightly anxious at seeing the anger on his partner’s face. There had only been a few times when he had seen Itachi so upset, and they all ended very badly.

Itachi thought quickly and carefully about his next move.  This girl was clever, to say the least. She may have not taken the obvious option of running back the way they came. Since she had the map, if she were smart she would have chosen to go further into the cave where they had no chance of following her.

“Kisame, do you remember the way back?” Itachi asked

“No.” Kisame answered.

“Wait here until I return.” Itachi turned and headed deeper into the cave, pulling a scroll from his sleeve.

* * *

 

Asaya walked briskly once she had chosen her path from the five-way junction. There was no point in wasting excess energy, even thought she had plenty left. Perhaps she was being too presumptuous, but there was no way they could catch her now.

After walking for a good while, the ground began to shift from solid rock with scattered pebbles, to slightly dusty and sandy. Just ahead of her, Asaya could see the walls change from their natural creviced and jagged features, to a much smoother and manmade appearance. This whole tunnel system was carved out by Iwa of course, but special attention was given to whatever was built up ahead. Perhaps it was an underground meeting room or a storage facility of some sort. That idea was entertaining. There were bound to be oodles of things to discover. It had to be an archeologist’s dream.

The room was extremely large for one underground.

It wasn’t all that wide, but it was very tall and long. The light of Asaya’s stolen lantern, though dim, couldn’t show the other end of the room. The ceiling wasn’t visible either. She could see that there were rectangular hollows carved throughout the walls. Turning the lamplight up momentarily revealed two things: the ribbed barrel vault of the ceiling, which was about fourty feet up, and the wooden boxes placed in each of those hollows. And few more were scattered around the floor. This tunnel system was indeed used for underground military smuggling.

_Oh well, it’s not like Iwa has the best track record for conducting perfectly legal operations,_ Asaya thought.

While looking at the wonton architecture of the ceiling, Asaya’s left foot stumbled. Looking down, she noticed that the object was relatively light, long, and white. It was a bone.

About a foot to her right was the complete skeleton of a dead soldier in front of her, it’s skull still adorning the traditional Iwa headband.

Asaya sharply inhaled to produce a small, mouse-like squeak.

* * *

 

 Swiftly running down the cave’s corridors, Itachi was glad that he had used his sharingan to memorize the map before it was stolen from him. At least he wasn’t that stupid.

However, he soon came to a halt as he entered a five way junction. The path had been easy up till now, as each split in the road had only one path that led towards the exit, but this one had more than one way to go. The initial rush of adrenalin that surged through his system while he sprinted through the caves now washed away with the cool sense of rational he needed to decide which way to go.

There were two distinct paths that would lead him towards the exit. But which way to go? Unfortunately, there were no clues as to which way she had went. The floor was solid stone, so there were no footprints, and not even a pebble was kicked out of place. Not even his sharingan could find a single detail. Only solid, undisturbed stone stood all around him. This girl was good.

There was a fifty/fifty shot no matter which way he went- odds he wasn’t comfortable with. But even if he went down the wrong one, there was a chance that he could race her to the end of the tunnel and ambush her at the exit. But that was assuming that he could get there first. He didn’t know how far ahead of him she was. None of his options were very appealing.

Then he heard it. It was the tiniest of sounds. Itachi almost thought he didn’t hear anything at all. A small, minuscule squeak came from his right. It was Mouse-like, really. But there were no animals in this tunnel- only Kisame, himself, and her.

_Fool…_

* * *

 

A wide eyed stare now looked down onto the skeleton in a mixture of astonishment, disgust, and curiosity. Knealing down, Asaya examined the skeleton. She could tell it was male from the prominent brow on the skull. There was mummified hair delicately attached to the skull, but otherwise there were no preserved tissues; they had naturally rotted away years ago. More interestingly, the man was wearing an extremely old uniform. It was made of traditional plated armor and hand woven fabrics. This man was from the First Shinobi War.

_Holy crap…!_ Asaya thought.

Just few yards behind the armored skeleton were dozens of others lined up against the wall. Even more were stuffed into the nooks and crannies carved into the walls. They were everywhere.

“Catacombs…” She whispered.

So this was what had been hidden down here: the countless dead bodies of soldiers who fought in the first war. And some of the skeletons looked even older.

Asaya’s eyes shifted erratically while the horror seeped in. The room now seemed half as big as it used to be.

She turned around and walked backwards into the cave. She was both amazed and horrified at the same time. On one hand this was a mass grave filled with the remains of the dead, but on the other it was possibly the most important historical find of the decade! This place had been abandoned and left untouched for generations.

So many questions filled her head. What was this tunnel system actually used for? How old was it? Who originally built it? Why were these bodies collected here, instead of being burned or destroyed like usual? Why was this place abandoned and forgotten?

And most importantly, _how did those men know about this place?_ Something was very, very wrong here.

Asaya was dumbstruck.

Then she saw something far more terrifying: a very feint light flickered from the tunnel she had just come from. It was small, like that of a firefly. Asaya almost couldn’t believe it, but she knew what she saw.

“No way…!” The words came out as broken and cold as her breath.

They had followed her. Her kidnappers had somehow managed to follow her despite impossible odds. Panic now squeezed her heart and lungs in its painful grip. She had to hide. There was no way to outrun them in the catacombs. They could probably see the light from her lamp just as well as they could see theirs.

Quickly she searched the room. The boxes- coffins- throughout the room were the only real places to hide. But they were far too obvious. Hiding there would have been like a child playing hide and seek. Asaya ran further into the room, scanning the walls for anyplace to take cover. She spotted a tiny hole in the wall barely large enough for her to fit through. Desperately she crawled in as far she could on her hands and knees, and then curled into a tight ball. She turned off her lantern, hid her chakara, and silently began to pray.

* * *

 

Itachi knew she was close when he saw a dim light ahead of him. There was no other possible explanation. When the light went out he realized that she must have spotted him too.

Now that he knew where his prey was, he ran even faster. There was no way he would let her get away now; she had to pay.

When he came to the entrance of the catacomb he halted. Though it was hard for him to see his surroundings, he knew exactly what this room was and what was in it. Sure, it was quite an astounding find, but Itachi did not have the time or desire to play archeologist.

_She must be hiding,_ Itachi thought. If she were still running he would have been able to see her lantern’s light.

The red of sharingan overlaid the normal black of his eyes. He would be able to see her chakara clear as day no matter where she hid.

Itachi walked slowly- leisurely almost- down the cave. Like a black panther his footsteps were calm, precise, and powerful.

From the corner of his left eye he spotted her. She had a soft, pale lilac color to her chakara. As he stepped closer to where she was hiding in the wall he could see her timid body shivering with fear. Her ability to hide her chakara was flawless, but like every opponent, she was no match for the power of sharingan. 

He knelt down in front of her mouse hole and looked inside.

* * *

 

Asaya could hear her heart beating in her temples; feel the blood pulse through her carotid arteries. Trembling hands covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her breath.

Through the drumming in her ears, she could hear him as he walked. The sound of his footsteps crunching the rock felt like sandpaper scratching her eardrums. Then she heard him stop, then take exactly six steps towards her, each step louder than the last.

_No, no, no, no, no, no...!_ She shook her head in disbelief.

She stared at the entrance to the hole she climbed in. Tears poured from her eyes as she saw a pair of legs kneel down and a face appeared. It was the face of the younger one, but his eyes were red, not black like she remembered. That was all she saw before everything went black.

* * *

 

Asaya suddenly found herself in an entirely different situation than she was just in. She was recumbent on her back in complete darkness. Reaching out her hands, she realized that she was in a wooden crate, just like the ones in the catacomb.

“You should have known better than to try and run.” The voice of the young man spoke from obscurity.

“What?! What is this? What are you doing?!” Asaya screamed back at him. She began to kick and thrash about in the box, trying to get out.

“Stop it! Let me go!” She cried.

She shut up as soon as she felt water pouring in from all around her, pooling at her back.

“No! Stop it! Stop!”

There was no reply, but the water kept pouring in. She clawed fervently at the box. If she didn’t get out she knew she was going to drown. The water slowly rose above her ears and squelched the sound of her own screams. She lifted her head to breathe and begged one last time.

“Let me out! Please!”

There was still no reply, and the water now smothered her face. Her fingers bruised and bled as her fingernails ripped off, but she kept clawing. The air in her lungs quickly became stale in her state of panic. She tried to hold it in, but soon instinct forced her to exhale and then inhale water. Franticly she kept breathing water in and out, each time choking and convulsing painfully. Her lungs burned due to oxygen deprivation and she began to feel light headed.

Eventually, she stopped breathing and moving altogether as she passed out.

* * *

 

 Once the girl passed out from his mangekyo sharingan, Itachi reached in and pulled her out. As soon as she was out and lying on her back he noticed that she wasn’t breathing and her heart wasn’t beating. This was an uncommon side effect of his genjutsu; victim’s minds would think that they had actually died and would subsequently stop basic functions. Under normal circumstances Itachi would have let her die- gladly at that. But for this exception he was instructed to keep her alive and unharmed. Mostly unharmed, at least.

Her chakara signature was fading fast. If he wanted to save her, he would have to act now.

Unfortunately, healing techniques were not his specialty, so his rudimentary medical knowledge would have to do. Raising his right hand in a fist, he slammed it down on her heart.

It didn’t work.

Itachi tried again. This time she sharply inhaled and coughed out, but still remained unconscious. He could see her chakara and vital signs returning to normal.

A cool sense of relief swept over his brow. If she had died he would have been in more trouble than if she escaped, especially since he would have been her cause of death.

Itachi grabbed the map that she stuffed in her obi then put it in his pocket. He didn’t really need it, but she wasn’t allowed to have it. He then picked up her unconscious body and carried it over his shoulder while he headed back towards Kisame.

Itachi did have to admit that he felt much better now that this episode was over.

* * *

 

Kisame quietly sat cross-legged while he waited for Itachi to return. At first he had been waiting for his partner to return, but now the anxiety was setting in.

“Man, what if Itachi got lost?” Kisame thought out loud.

If Itachi never came back for him, what was he supposed to do?

Kisame looked back into the cave in the direction they entered from. If he got lost trying to get out by himself, he was screwed.

“Kisame.” Itachi said from behind him.

Kisame looked behind him to see Itachi standing with the girl limply draped over his shoulder like a dead cow.

“Let’s go.” He said, then turned and walked away.

Kisame stood up and followed behind his partner. Though he had many, he wouldn’t dare ask questions.


	5. Good Intent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after chapters 3 and 4, but before 1 and 2.

Asaya heaved her chest in what must have been the millionth sigh since the beginning of her “journey.” How long had she been traveling? About three weeks was her best guess, but in truth she had lost all sense of time. Neither of her traveling “companions” did either, so the individuality of each day had lost significance. The only way for her to keep track of time was on the rare occasions like today when they were at a place with a calendar.

Now, like often, she was sitting on a bench outside of a traveler’s stop somewhere in Water Country. Beside her, Kisame stood in monolithic silence. The silence was ok as far as Asaya was concerned, because he didn’t make for good conversation. Or even decent conversation, for that matter. The third member of their party, Uchiha Itachi, was occupied elsewhere. He was in the town a few miles down the road completing an assassination mission he received two days earlier. He had instructed Kisame to watch Asaya at the stop because it allowed him to work more efficiently, and it prevented Asaya from making a public scene: again.

A young girl, about sixteen years old, came out of the door Asaya sat next to carrying a small tray with a cup of tea and a little plate of tea cookies. Asaya politely thanked the girl for bringing her the snacks she ordered earlier, then the girl and went back inside. Asaya had noticed the girl wore a plain, light blue kimono with a yellow obi. It was in the traditional tea house style- solid color with no embellishments- but she envied how clean and well kept the girl’s clothes were. In stark contrast, Asaya’s kimono top had become faded, wrinkled, and dirty. It used to be a deep magenta color, with a maple leaf pattern around the hem and left shoulder, and her obi had been bright orange; this was no longer the case. Her standard black pants had gained a tear or two as well. Oddly, her shoes were still in great shape, but they were military quality unlike the rest of her outfit. Asaya now felt horribly embarrassed about her clothes.

As she ate a cookie, Asaya noticed Kisame critically staring at her. She began to chew slowly with satisfaction.

Only a few minutes passed before Kisame grabbed Samehada from where it rested against the wall and lurched it onto his back. Asaya looked at him and realized what it meant. Itachi was now coming up the road he had departed from.

Without stopping, Itachi walked passed them and said “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

A few miles down the road, the three walked in dull silence. But Asaya began to grow nervous, _Do they not realize…?_ she thought. Itachi and Kisame both stopped in front of her and she almost walked into them.

“Halt!” A male voice shouted from behind them.

They all turned around. “You are under arrest for the assassination of Lord Fujiwara!” Shouted a middle aged man wearing a Kirigakure hatai-ate. He was accompanied by two younger men, both about 25 years old. It was evident that the two were his pupils. It was also easy to see from their appearances that they were twins. Overall, they seemed strong, but no one thought they would be a threat. Itachi, Kisame, and Asaya all raised the same disinterested eyebrow.

 One of them nudged the other, and said “Hey, that one’s Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the Seven Swordsman. And that’s Uchiha Itachi.” The second one then asked “Then who’s the girl, brother?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hush, boys. We’ll find out soon.” Their sensei cut them off. He took out two long kunai, and the boys armed themselves each with a wakizashi.

Kisame proudly took Samehada from his back. “And I thought I wasn’t going to see any bloodshed today. How fortunate for me. Eh, Itachi-san?”

Itachi didn’t reply, but instead unbuttoned his cloak half way and rested his left arm on the opening. He was determined to end this swiftly.

Asaya quickly realized that she was the only one without a weapon. _Well, fuck…_ She thought.

The older man was the first to move as he lunged towards Kisame. Kisame immediately lunged back, swinging Samehada wildly over his head.

The twins made for Itachi and Asaya. Itachi was unfazed, and easily caught one in a simple genjutsu. The boy stood still with a lackluster gaze. It was too easy, really.

Asaya, on the other hand, had no particular desire to fight empty handed. Or at all, really. She opted to turn and run in the other direction.

Itachi was about to finish his opponent when he saw Asaya and the other brother run off. _Damn,_ he thought. He couldn’t let them get out of sight, so instead of killing the boy he ran after Asaya.

* * *

“Get back here!” One twin called as he ran after Asaya. She didn’t stop running and performed a sequence of hand seals. She pivoted on her heal to face her attacker, and smashed both fists into the ground. The earth uplifted and parted violently beneath the twin’s feet, causing him to lose balance and fall into the rubble. A cloud of dust uplifted around them and quietly settled. Asaya waited for him to get up. He didn’t.

He shot up from the ground behind her like a murderous plant. Asaya turned around making another set of hand seals, but was tackled before she could finish the sequence. The boy pinned her to the ground with one hand around her neck and the raised his blade over his head. A menacing gleam targeted her in the sunlight. Reacting quickly, Asaya concentrated chakra into her fist to strike back.

Before either of them could hit, a kunai flew into the boy’s sternum. Blood spattered onto Asaya’s face and chest before he dropped his weapon and limply fell on top of her.

Morbidly relieved, Asaya shoved the body from off of her. She stood up and found Itachi standing in the direction she had run from. Red eyes cast a disapproving gaze on her. She didn’t much care for his judgment, and instead paid more attention to the fresh stains on her clothes. Itachi could see she was obviously displeased.

Hearing quick footsteps behind him, Itachi turned around. The other twin was rushing at him. When the boy was about ten feet away, he leapt into the air with his sword posed to strike. Despite the assault, Itachi made no motion to evade or counterattack. He had no reason to.

The boy hadn’t realized that Kisame was right behind him with Samehada. In one swing, Kisame shredded the boy into pieces. Bits of flesh, blood, and organs spattered in every direction. The poor child didn’t even have time to scream while it happened.

Asaya winced as she witnessed the boy being cheese grated alive. Even as a well trained kunoichi, she still thought it was an unpleasant way to die.

“Seems this girl’s more trouble than she’s worth. Almost getting killed by a weakling like that.” Kisame mocked.

Asaya scowled at him and wiped some blood off of her cheek. Did he not remember their first encounter?

“That’s probably why she was assigned to us.” Itachi answered.

“Feh! At least we’ll be meeting with the others soon. Maybe then we can dump her on them.” Kisame lifted Samehada onto his back again and turned to head off. Itachi and Asaya followed behind him.

* * *

 

It wasn’t too much longer before they entered a port town. It was a small but very well kept and lively place. Life was centered on the traditional main street and town square. The shops, hotels, bars, and stalls had well kept storefronts with neatly painted signs. At the town square the ground was paved with large cobble stones and free of litter. The central focus was a small fountain that sprayed crystal clear water. Economically speaking, the town must have done well for its small size if it could afford such luxuries.

As they walked through the town Asaya could see people trying to discreetly look at her; specifically at her clothing. Dried blood stains were splashed across her kimono and obi. She tried not to let it show, but it was embarrassing nonetheless.

Itachi also noticed the attention Asaya’s clothing was garnering. This was a problem. “Asaya-san,” he said, “get something clean to wear.” He pulled a wallet from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Thank you.” She hesitantly took it from him and walked off into a nearby clothing store.

A bell chimed when she opened the door and walked in. “Welcome, can I help you with anything?” the attendant at the counter said. Her face quickly shifted expressions when she saw Asaya’s clothing.

“Yeah, funny story,” Asaya spoke with a sheepish smile on her face. “But I need some new clothes”

* * *

 

Itachi and Kisame sat on a bench next to the fountain while they waited. They remained in sight of the shop Asaya had walked into.

“Damnit, how long is this gonna take? I bet she slipped out the back.” Kisame said disgruntled.

“Would you rather go in and wait on her instead?” Itachi replied.

The thought of waiting inside for that girl like a servant revolted him. Why did Itachi have to be right all the time?

Kisame changed the subject. “You know, she’s been with us a long time now, too long. And Leader still hasn’t given us anymore information than we started with.”

“No, but she is still important to Akatsuki somehow.”

“Yeah, and how’s that? She’s just a regular weakling as far as I can tell.”

“She is stronger than she is letting us know. Do you remember when you first met her?”

Kisame grumbled. “That was only because I couldn’t kill her. But since you know so much, why do you think she’s still here?”

Itachi thought for a moment. “There are a few possibilities. I first thought she was a daughter of an influential family we were holding for ransom, but it’s not our policy to keep hostages for this long. My best guess is that she either knows something secret or has a specific skill that we need. She’s definitely not a potential recruit because she lacks-” Itachi had to think for a moment before finding the right words “-the necessary qualities of character.”

Kisame smirked. “’Necessary qualities of character?’”

“You know what I mean.”

Itachi saw Asaya finally walk out of the shop dressed in an entirely new outfit: standard navy blue pants, a grey tank top, and a plum sweat jacket. It was much more suitable than the semi-formal clothes she had before. She turned her head in both directions before she spotted them and walked over. When she reunited with them she returned Itachi’s wallet with two hands. “Thank you.” she said again.

“She came back. What a good girl.” Kisame said as he stood up.

Itachi saw her glare at him from the corner of her eye. He put the wallet back in his pocket, stood up, and walked toward the docks.

At the entrance to the docks there was a large sign displaying the arrival and departure schedule of each boat for the day. The main function of the ports seemed to be to redistribute merchant goods from one ship to another, so the schedule was full. Of the many destination names written, Asaya wondered which one they were going to. The two Akatsuki seemed to always know exactly where they needed to go without prompting. Not that they ever had much in the way of conversation anyway, but they never even seemed to discuss travel plans. Although in all fairness, Asaya never paid much attention to the few conversations they did have, so maybe she was just oblivious.

Itachi scaned the board and noticed that their ship was scheduled to leave in ten minutes. “Our boat is leaving soon, let’s go.” He said to Kisame.

_Seriously, what the hell is happening?_ Asaya thought as she followed after them.

The sailor at the gate of the ferry was a gruff, middle aged man wearing a clean but patched uniform. He had a lit cigarette in one hand.

“We need passage for three to Umishi Town.” Itachi said to the sailor.

The man looked at them quizzically. They were an odd group, after all. He took a drag of his cigarette and said “Sorry, but there’s only room for two. You’ll have to wait for tomorrow.” Appropriately, the sound of his voice was low and abrasive.

Kisame spoke up. “You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you where we’ll meet the others.” Itachi nodded in understanding before Kisame turned and walked off.

Itachi then paid the sailor the fee for him and Asaya and they boarded.

* * *

 

The boat ride had so far been slow and uneventful, but Asaya guessed that she hadn’t expected much anyway. A boat was just a boat and the sea was just the sea to her. But this was definitely an ugly boat. The grain of the wood was splintered and cracked. The deck was slimy and in some places she could hear her shoes peel off the floor as she walked. The entire crew was made up of burly men with sweat stains all over their clothes. This boat was the personification of a toothless, scaly-skinned, wretched, old fisherman.

The worst part was the cargo she and Itachi were sitting next to: fish. Fish were the most despicable creatures. Their jaws gaped open with the glassy eyed look of death while their scales perspired an oily sheen as they baked in the sun. Asaya couldn’t stop fidgeting with the cuffs of her new, purple sweat jacket.

Itachi watched her antics for a while before he finally asked, “Is something bothering you?”

“I hate fish. And boats. And the ocean.” Asaya said.

“Does this scare you then?” Considering there were no oceans in Earth Country, this was probably new experience to her.

“Somewhat. I’m not fond of water in general.” She replied honestly.

Itachi briefly remembered the time he used Tsukuyomi on her.

“May I ask you a question?”

Itachi looked at her.

Guessing she had approval, Asaya said “If Hoshigaki-san is so shark like, than why doesn’t he just swim across instead of waiting till tomorrow?”

“That was the plan.” He said curtly.

“Oh…” She felt stupid for asking. It should have been obvious, but how was she to know? Her hands went back to playing with her sleeves and she shamefully stared at her feet.

Itachi realized something; if she hadn’t ever traveled far from her village before, than she may have never sailed before. “Have you ever sailed before?”

Asaya shook her head. “Not like this. I’ve crossed some rivers and lakes before, but I’d never even seen the ocean.”

Itachi supposed that it wasn’t unreasonable that a normal girl would be afraid the first time she crossed the ocean, but she was a kunoichi. She should be braver than that. “Can you swim?”

A delicate eyebrow twitched. Asaya was somewhat insulted by his question. “Yes. Forgive me for not having the same travel experience you do.”

Looking back at the sea, Itachi saw dark clouds looming in the direction they were headed. An ominous breeze flew past them.

* * *

 

By the time they reached harbor, it was fervently raining. A huge storm was moving in fast. Waves had already begun to slam against the boat and knock crates over. The sailors and boatmen aggressively shouted at one another as they ran around the boat like crazed ants trying to unload the ship and secure it to the dock.

 Itachi and Asaya ran off the boat and up the street into the nearest inn fast as they could. By the time they reached the door they were soaked. Itachi took off his jacket and Asaya wrung out her hair before they went in.

The inside was surprisingly attractive. The tables and chairs were made of polished dark wood, an array of ornate glass liquor bottles were displayed behind the bar, and the floor was polished and clean. Over the bar, there was a sign that read “Sawdust”- presumably the establishment’s name. This was probably the nicest inn they had stayed at.

“Welcome, what can I help you with?” An older man said when they walked in. He must have been the owner.

“I need one room with two beds for the night.” Itachi answered.

“Yes sir.” The man called to a worker across the room. “Hachiro, show our customers a room upstairs.”

A teenage boy came over to them and bowed politely. “Please follow me.”

The room he took them to was as nice as downstairs. It had fluffy pillows, soft bed sheets, and a copy of Hokusai’s _The Great Wave_ hung on the wall _._ “If you need anything, please ask.” The young man bowed and went back downstairs.

Itachi hung his coat on the rack and walked over to the window displeased. Outside the storm raged on as if Susannoo himself were fighting a wicked demon. Kisame would probably continue through it without incident, but neither of them were hulking fish creatures. Now they were set behind another half day.  He turned and looked at Asaya sitting on the bed closest to the door. She had grabbed a lock of her long hair and begun braiding it.

Asaya gently ground her teeth in her mouth as she sat in silence. Awkward silence. It was only 5 in the afternoon so it was too early to just go to sleep, unless she wanted to wake up at 2 am and remain tired for the rest of the day. And she couldn’t strike up a conversation with Itachi to pass the time. He obviously wasn’t one for idle chatter. During times like this she had no idea how to behave.

“If you have something to say, you are more than capable of saying it. Don’t be so anxious.” Asaya looked up at Itachi as he said it. A flash of lightning illuminated his face briefly.

Asaya swallowed. “It is just that you and Hoshigaki-san are always so implicit that I don’t know what is going on, or what to do with myself.”

There was an odd irony in what she said. Truthfully, he didn’t know what was going on or how he should deal with her either. He was probably just as tired of the awkwardness as she was. “Don’t be. I told you when we were in Sapporo that you would remain unharmed while you were with me.”

Asaya could almost laugh. “And how long will that be?”

“I don’t know.” Anticipating her, he said, “Worrying about it will not make a difference. My advice would be to get used to it.”

“The fact that you are most likely going to kill me is not what bothers me.”

Itachi raised an eyebrow at her words. What a noble thing for a ninja to say.

“What bothers me is the deafening silence that seems so common between you two. It seems uncustomary for traveling companions, is all.”

‘Companions’ may not have been the best word to describe Kisame and Itachi’s affiliation, but he supposed there wasn’t really another word to use. “You will get used to the silence; think of it as ‘customary.’”

Small fingers gently unraveled the braid they had just finished tying, only to grab another lock of hair and begin the same process again. “Tell me, part of the reason you remain quiet is because you don’t want me to learn things that might be… strictly confidential?”

“Yes, but that’s normal for any hostage situation.”

“If I am a hostage, then who are you trying to bribe?”

Itachi cursed himself for using those words carelessly. “I don’t actually know if you’re a hostage or not. I was merely elaborating a point.”

She looked at him skeptically.

“When I do find out why you are here, I will tell you. There would be no point in hiding it from you. For now stop worrying about it.” He said.

Then what else was she supposed to do? Think nothing? What he said frustrated her somewhat, but she decided to stop pressing the matter. But secretly, she wasn’t so concerned with learning about them so much as she wondered what they knew about her.

She looked at him as he looked back out the window. His arms were crossed and his weight was shifted onto one leg in contrapposto. There was a pensive atmosphere around him. He wasn’t wearing the high-collared coat or hat so she could clearly see his face for once. The three-quarter profile revealed his clean features. The bridge of his nose was straight and proportionate. His cheekbones were high but not so much as to make his cheeks look sunken in. The cleanly defined angle of his jaw and chin was probably the nicest she had ever seen. Even the conformation of his neck and collar bones was attractive.

He was handsome.

Asaya’s hands stopped moving. Embarrassment rushed hot blood into the skin of her cheeks and she bit the inside of her lip. That wasn’t an appropriate thing to be thinking about.

Now uncomfortably looking at her lap, Asaya said, “Earlier, Hoshigaki-san said that we would be meeting with others soon. Who are they?”

“They are two other members of Akatsuki. You don’t need to know more.” Really, it wouldn’t do any harm if he told her; he just didn’t feel like talking in general. Anyway, she would see for herself what they were like in another day or so.

It was starting to become very uncomfortable being alone in a room with her. “You may go downstairs and entertain yourself if you wish, but do not leave this building.” Itachi was commanding her to leave more than he was giving her the option.

Asaya didn’t hesitate to take the offer though, and she quickly got up, slipped her shoes on at the door, and closed it quietly behind her.

Itachi took a deep breath as soon as she was gone. Not that he necessarily disliked her, but he didn’t feel like he had any real reason to deal with her more than he had to. A hand combed through his bangs as he walked back to the table in the middle of the room.

_Why her?_ It still baffled him. She was just a normal girl with no particular talents- other than running away. But there had to be _something._ He did notice that she was very well spoken and formally mannered. Maybe she really was a member of an influential family being held hostage. But then why wouldn’t Pein have told him? There had to be something they weren’t telling him, and not knowing it was a constant thorn in his side. He had even requested Zetsu ask Pein for more information a few times already, but still nothing. Were they just doing this to mock him?

Then it hit him like a frying pan to the face; why not just ask her? If she had some reason to be kidnapped, then she would know it. And this was the perfect time to question her now that Kisame wasn’t around to get in the way.

Itachi decided that he would do exactly that later. For now, he would enjoy the luxury of being alone. He untied his hitai-ate and took his shirt off, then folded them on the table. His hands reached down and unzipped his pants as he walked toward the bathroom door.

* * *

 

Asaya couldn’t have been more relieved the moment she walked out the door and down the stairs. It was a blessing to say the least.

On the main floor of the building, there were only a handful of customers. There were about three people at the bar. Two of them were old men drinking beer, and the third was a fisherman drinking sake. At the tables there was a pair of young women eating oyster shells. Presumably, all these people were stuck here because they weren’t able to make it home before the storm blew in.

A bright flash of light dispersed throughout the room momentarily, immediately followed by an earsplitting thunderclap. A second later the lights went out.

A few moans and groans leapt from the mouths of the people in the room. Because it wasn’t too late in the afternoon, enough natural light filled the room to allow everyone to see, despite the storm clouds covering the sun. The owner and his waiters all pulled out old-fashioned candles and lamps to replace the modern light bulbs.

When the owner saw Asaya standing at the bottom of the stairs he said, “Take a seat, we’ll be with you shortly.”

She sat down at a two person table by the front window. It wasn’t too long before a waiter came by to take her order. “Can I get you anything?” He asked her.

“Just some tea, please.”

“Sure, any particular kind?”

She was a bit unprepared for that question. Usually when she asked for tea the waiter only brought back whatever the kitchen had on hand. “Um, plain black tea.”

“OK, one moment please.”

Asaya politely smiled in appreciation and he went back to the kitchen. She took a deep breath and looked out the window. It really was raining badly. There was nothing like this in Iwa because the high mountain elevation kept the heavy rainclouds from reaching the village. She did remember the long rain showers that would fall in the glacial valley she grew up in, but they were like comparing a kitten to a lion.

As bad as this storm was, she couldn’t help but contemplate escaping again. It would be so easy, too. The rain and wind would completely cover her tracks, and Itachi had been stupid enough to let her out of his sight. She rested her head in one hand and bit her lip as she looked out the window, contemplating her options.

The waiter came back and interrupted her silence. He placed a porcelain teacup and saucer before her. Asaya admired the dark hue of the tea momentarily before she thanked him.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” the waiter said, “where is your brother? Er… he is your brother, right?”

Asaya didn’t know how she should respond to the question, but she decided to go with the assumption that they were siblings. “Yeah, he is upstairs resting. We’ve been on the road for a while.” Really she had no idea what he was doing. He could be upstairs skinning a cat alive for all she knew.

“Really? Where did you come from?”

Another question she wasn’t sure how to answer. “Um, well I guess we came from Lightning Country last week.” It was actually true. They had traveled through Lightning Country to get to where they were now.

“Wow, that’s a long way to travel from here. Do you live there?”

“Yeah.”

“You sure? You’re not by any chance from Iwa are you, hmm?”

Asaya stared at him wide eyed. The “hmm” at the end of his sentence was unmistakably part of an accent specific to Iwagakure. “Who are you?” She asked cautiously.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then. Relax, yeah. I’m not a bad guy. Mind if I sit?”

He sat down before Asaya could tell him otherwise.

He was a young man only a few years older than her, with dark brown hair and eyes. “My name is Densho. And your name is Asaya, right?” He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. The howling winds outside effectively kept anyone except her from hearing him. “I’m a spy from Iwa, yeah. A while ago we all got messages saying that a girl matching your description mysteriously went missing. It was kind of a high priority thing. So what happened, hm?”

Asaya couldn’t believe it. This was probably the greatest coincidence in the history of mankind. “I’ve been kidnapped by the man I came in with and another who isn’t here at the moment. Their names are Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, and they are part of a terrorist organization named Akatsuki.”

Densho looked at her in complete disbelief. “Are you kidding me?!” He said in a harsh whisper. “That’s _the_ Uchiha Itachi? _And_ you’ve been kidnapped by Akatsuki? Man, my team leader is gonna flip when he hears this, yeah.”

Slender eyebrows wrinkled together in curiosity. “Why? Who are these people?”

“You don’t know who they are? Akatsuki is on a need-to-know basis, but Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are infamous S-class criminals, yeah. They’re in just about every Bingo book you could find, un.”

Asaya had to confess that she never really read her Bingo book. She only opened it if she needed to look up something specific. The missions she did go on weren’t the type that required her to have general knowledge about dangerous missing-nin, and most of the time she just worked at a desk or trained and studied. Hers was not a usually a very exciting lifestyle.

But the phrase “need-to-know basis” made Asaya curious as to why she hadn’t heard of Akatsuki despite working directly under the Tsuchikage. Even though she was mostly a glorified secretary, she still knew a lot of top secret information. So why not this?

“Oi, Densho! Get back to work!” The owner shouted from the bar.

“Sorry, gotta go. I’ll be back in a bit, hm.”

Before he could go, Asaya said, “Wait, could I ask you for a pen and some paper?”

Densho pulled a pen and a small notepad from his apron and handed them to her. “This work?”

“Yes, thanks.”

He hurried back to the kitchen.

Asaya uncapped the pen and began writing two letters. One was to the Tsuchikage and her Sensei detailing all she knew about what had happened and what she knew about the Akatsuki, and the other was to a personal friend.

_Dear Tsuta,_

_I hope you will be glad to know that I’m alive and mostly well. I also hope you are faring well without me._

Asaya rolled her eyes at the two sentences she had just written. Tsuta would mock her for sounding so pretentious.

_In case you were wondering, I was kidnapped while I was visiting the monastery by two men named Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. They are part of a criminal organization called “Akatsuki.” Do not question your grandfather about Akatsuki under any circumstance- that knowledge is highly classified. Information on the two men can be found in any Bingo book. As this letter is being written, I am in Umishi Town, somewhere in Water Country. Specifically, I am at an inn named Sawdust. I can’t say where they are taking me or why, but for now I am relatively safe. Do not worry, I promise to be home soon._

_Take care,_

_Asaya_

When she finished writing she folded up the letters neatly and wrote the appropriate addresses on the back. She also placed a seal on them to prevent anyone unwanted from reading them.

Densho came back with a small teapot and refilled her cup before sitting down. “Listen,” he said, “the message said that we were supposed to take you back home if we found you. I think I can sneak you back if-“

“No.” Asaya shook her head and interrupted him. “These men are far too strong. Here,” she slid the two letters to him, “take these and send them home as soon as possible. There isn’t much else we can do.”

“You sure? I’m in ANBU, ya know.”

“Believe me; even Tsuchikage-sama would be hard pressed against that guy.”

Densho took the letters and put them in his pocket.  He gave in to her warning and said, “Fine, but be careful, yeah. I’ll let everyone know that you were spotted here with him. And that you haven’t gone rouge, hm.”

“Thank you.” She said with an honest smile.

“No problem. Just take care of yourself, ‘kay. It’d be a shame if a pretty face like yours were bruised, un.”

Asaya blinked. This seemed like a slightly odd time to make that sort of comment. Did he mean anything by what he said or was he just being casual?

“Anyway, if you need anything else I’ll be here.” He got up and left again.

She took a sip of tea and looked out the window. The storm was not getting better. _How the hell long do these things last?!_

* * *

 

After Asaya had left, Itachi had used the time alone as an opportunity to take a shower.  He walked back into the main room in his pants with his hair loose around his shoulders. There was a towel in his left hand. Sitting down at the table, he used the towel to dry his hair. When it was as dry as it would get he combed his fingers through and once again put it in a low pony tail. Then he put his shirt back on and sat back in the chair. He put his right elbow on the table, rested his head in his hand, and stared at the door.

He knew he should go and retrieve Asaya so he could question her, but he also had to admit he didn’t really want to have to be around her anymore than he did. But he did have all night, right? He could easily leave her down there for some time more while he relaxed by himself for once.

* * *

 

The storm still raged on, but by now it stopped bothering her. The sun had long since set and only thick blackness pressed itself up against the windowpane. Deafening rain decanted from the sky in volumes she could only guess at. Occasionally, lightning would flash and brilliantly illumine the street outside for a split second before it was chased it away by a crack of thunder

 Asaya sat relaxed as she looked out the window. Her feet were propped up on the empty seat across from her and she sat back while leaning her head and shoulder against the window. On the table stood a small candle that flickered and cast her reflection on the glass. In her lap she held a warm teacup. The heat radiated into her hands and dispersed throughout her whole body. She was completely caught up in the storm’s intensity. Her eyes had ceased focusing. Instead she only listened to and felt the pelting droplets and cries of power.

When Densho came back he refilled her drink. “You really like this stuff, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” She said shyly. _You have no idea._ She thought.

“It’s quite a storm out there, huh? Nothing like it back home.”

“How do they last this long? I would think the sky would run out of water by now.”

“Well, this is what’s called a ‘tropical storm.” It’s basically one step below a hurricane, hn. They don’t call it Water Country for nothing, yeah.”

She put her feet on the floor and sat up straight when he sat across from her again. He noticed her posture and said, “Relax, no need to be so formal, yeah. We’re fellow shinobi from Iwa, remember?”

Asaya supposed it was the social custom in Iwa for shinobi to be friendly with each other, so she slouched her shoulders a bit.

“So tell me,” He said, “what is it like traveling with them, huh?”

Asaya spoke with a mildly disgusted look on her face. “I suppose it isn’t as bad as it could be, but it’s still unbearable most of the time. “

“Have they- you know?” he hesitantly asked.

She blinked a few times before she understood what he was implying. “No, nothing like that.”

“Sorry, it’s just I have to ask these things, ya know. So I can write a report.” He scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile on his face.

Asaya awkwardly returned the smile. “I understand. Most of the time I just sit around with one of them while the other goes off and does… whatever they do. I don’t exactly know.”

“I see. Seems kinda weird, hm. Do you know why they took you?”

She shook her head. “No. And they don’t know either. They were just following orders from whomever their leader is.”

“Weird, un…”

“Densho!” The owner shouted at him again. “Quit harassing the customers!”

He was about to get up when Asaya said, “He’s not bothering me, I promise!”

The owner seemed skeptical, but he let it go.

“So tell me,” she said to Densho, “how long have you been stationed here?”

They talked for a while more, mostly about the differences between the Water and Earth countries, but also about small, trivial things like their favorite restaurants back home.

* * *

 

From the corner of her eye Asaya saw Itachi standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking at her. Once they established eye contact, Itachi signaled for her to follow him back upstairs.

“Sorry, I have to go. I was nice talking to you though.” She said to Densho.

“Mutual. Best of luck, yeah.”

“Thanks, you too.” She was disappointed she had to go. It had been refreshing to talk to someone normal for a change.

Anxiety creeped its way into her stomach while she walked back to the hotel room. What did he want with her? There was a large three-wick candle burning ominously on the table. One wick crackled and flickered. Itachi watched as Asaya winced at the noise. She looked like a scared little rabbit to him. Good.

Itachi stretched out an upward palm towards the bed. “Sit.” he commanded. She obeyed and sat on the foot of the bed with an upright back, hands in her lap, and one ankle tucked behind the other. Itachi pulled out a chair from the table and sat facing her, his back towards the window. He leaned forward with his forearms bracing against his thighs. Momentarily he studied her posture. It was the same nervous, lady-like way she always sat. He looked her dead in the eye, but she cast her face and eyes to the floor. Looking away seemed to be her nervous habit.

“What were you talking about with the man downstairs?”

Asaya knew the question was coming. Her chest vacuum sealed but she knew she had to talk. “The weather, mostly.” Fortunately she had an answer prepared ahead of time.

“And?”

“Other trivial things like food and stuff. He did ask me where we had traveled from. I told him we came from Lightning Country.” It was still technically true.

“You didn’t think that he would find it strange that my hitai-ate is from Konoha?”

Asaya wanted to crawl into a ball and die. He asked questions in the most discreetly aggressive way. _He’s going to eat me alive…!_ She thought. “I don’t think he noticed. And even if he did, it would be easy to tell you defected and no longer live there. I made the distinction that we were from Lightning country, not Kumogakure.”

“Very well.” It was a sound answer. Itachi then quickly asked, “Tell me again, what was your rank and position as a shinobi in Iwa?”

“I was in ANBU, in a special division called Kodama squad. I worked in torture and interrogation.” Thankfully she remembered what she told him when they were in Sapporo.

“It was a lie then and it is a lie now, Kagami-san.” He studied her expression while he called her on the lie. It didn’t change, but she didn’t respond either.

“Well?” he pressed. He believed she could have been in ANBU, though.

The intensity at which he accused her if lying punched her in the gut like a seasoned street fighter. “I worked in security.” She glanced up at him briefly as she said it.

He could tell this time that she told the truth. “As a body guard or at a post?”

“Both. Why are you asking me this?” She barely squeaked out the question.

“Because I am trying to figure out why we are in this situation. Knowing more about you may provide an answer. And do not lie to me.” He threatened.

It made sense to Asaya, but she had a reason to keep some information withheld.

“Who did you protect, and what post did you guard?” He asked.

“I protected one of the Tsuchikage’s grandsons, a boy named Tsuta, and I guarded some archives in the basement of the main library.”

“What was in these archives?”

“I don’t know. They were protected by very high level seals and barriers. I have only ever seen someone go in once or twice.”

This information wasn’t helping Itachi at all. Akatsuki would have no use for a security guard. The standard protocol was to kill them and move on. “Do you have any special skills or abilities?” That was probably the first question he should have asked.

Asaya was afraid he would ask that. “I specialize in defense, survival, and long distance endurance.” It was true but she knew it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. She was training in seals and she had a hunch it was why they took her, but she wasn’t going to tell him if he didn’t already know.

There was something wrong with what she said. “Why would someone who works as a security guard need skills in survival?”

“Originally I trained to courier messages and things in secret, but I ended up in security because I was already protecting the boy and they needed someone to fill the position.” She said the truth, but not the whole truth. At one time she did train in survival, but lack of available personnel wasn’t exactly the reason she ended up in security. The real reason was because she specialized in the coveted and rare skill of seals, and she couldn’t regularly be sent on missions that risked her life. That would be a waste for her village.

Itachi rested his forehead in his palms for a moment before he stood up and walked to the window, obviously frustrated. He was getting nowhere with these questions.

_How do you think I feel?_ Asaya thought.

Itachi couldn’t actually see anything out the window. It was dark and with the power outage there were no streetlamps on outside. There was only the occasional bolt of lightning.

“The boy that you protect, is he in danger from anything specific?”

Asaya was surprised he asked about it. “No, I’m really just a glorified babysitter.”

“How old is he?” Itachi was only asking because he couldn’t think of anything else.

“Thirteen.”

“That seems a little old to need a babysitter.”

“He is rather… delicate.”

Itachi turned around to look at her again, somewhat curious.

“He has hemophilia and some dietary restrictions, stuff like that. His family just has me watch him because they’re paranoid.”

“How long have you done this?”

“About six years or so. I can’t remember exactly.”

“Are you close with him?”

“Yes, he is like a little brother to me.” She faintly smiled.

 “Are you familiar with the rest of the Tsuchikage’s family as well?”

“Sort of. I know the entire family because I grew up working for them, but I would consider my relationship with them a professional one. I only know a few of them well.”

That was interesting. If she knew the Tsuchikage’s family, then maybe she knew something about them Akatsuki wanted to know. “Who exactly are you close with?”

Asaya wasn’t exactly comfortable talking about the family to a criminal, but after working for them for so long she knew how to keep her mouth shut about their personal business. “Tsuta, like I said, is the only one I would call a friend. But I also see Tsuchikage-sama regularly, and two of his other grandchildren.”

That had to be it. She must be suspected of having insider knowledge that either Akatsuki needed, or some third party had paid for. Itachi watched as she began to fidget with her hands. There was a forlorn expression in her eyes. “Do you worry about him? The boy.” He was guessing.

Itachi watched as a warm smile grew on her face as she remembered him. “Yes.” She said.

“And what about your own family?  Are they a clan of shinobi too?”

The warmth on her face vanished. “… They were.”

Itachi knew what that meant. It wasn’t uncommon for shinobi families to leave children orphaned. But as he thought about it, she implied that she did belong to a clan, and that they were _all_ deceased. Something about that seemed suspicious to him. “Exactly what do you have for a family? Or, what _did_ you have?”

Black eyes watched as small teeth gently ground together.  Her eyes fixated on the same spot on the floor they had stared at the whole time. After a moment, she said “I am what you think I am. Forgive my impertinence, but I do not see how it is any of your business, Itachi-san.”

It took a second longer than usual for Itachi to fully absorb what she said. This was the first time she had openly displayed real anger with him. This new knowledge intrigued him, but he knew he would have to pursue it another time. He inhaled slowly and deeply. “You are the victim of abduction. There is no reason for you to worry about being polite.”

Asaya was bemused by what he said. _Does he pity me?_ She wondered.

There was a moment of tense silence before Asaya got up and walked into the bathroom. Through the door, Itachi could hear the bathwater running.

About a half hour later Asaya finally came out. She immediately went to the bed and covered herself in the sheets. She didn’t bother to acknowledge Itachi sitting at the table while reading a book. Instead, she fell asleep as fast as she could to the sounds of thunder and rain.

* * *

 

The next morning, the weather had much improved. Sure, the ground outside was soppy and muddy, the wooden buildings were saturated with water, and the air had a pungent, moldy smell, but the sun was shining.

A pair of dark lashed eyes opened slowly in the light. Itachi blinked a few times as it assaulted his eyes. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes before he looked at the clock. It read 8:04, much later than he wanted to wake up. They had somewhere to be and he knew he was going to get in trouble for keeping the other Akatsuki members waiting.

Across from him, a sleeping Asaya was curled up in the blankets while hugging her pillow. Itachi sighed and shook his head. The dreamy look on her face irritated him.

He got out of bed and quickly dressed. Then, he walked over to Asaya to wake her up, since she obviously wasn’t going to do it by herself. “Asaya-san,” he said.

“Mmnh…” she moaned at him and pulled the covers over her head and rolled herself away from him.

He then pressed his hand to her shoulder and shook her. “Wake up.” He said firmly.

She rolled back over and stared at him with glossy, cow-like eyes before realizing there was a man standing over her. Immediately she sat up and nervously said “Morning.”

“I will be downstairs checking out. Be ready to go by the time I get back.” He turned and walked out the door.

Asaya fell back into the bed right after the door closed. She inhaled deeply and begrudgingly contemplated getting up. Couldn’t she sleep a little longer? The warm bed sheets were so enticing. And it was so rare that she didn’t have to sleep on dirt.

In the end, she knew it was better to get up now than to be sleeping when he got back. After she grabbed the jacket she left on the nightstand, she limply stood up and put it over her shoulders. _There, I’m dressed._ She thought somewhat mockingly.

Because she didn’t own pajamas she slept in the same tank top and pants she had just bought, so getting dressed was easy. Though, she did need to run her fingers through her hair a few times to get the tangles out.

She sat back down on the bed. What to do now then? From the corner of her eye she spied some objects on the table. One was the sugegasa, but there was a smaller, rectangular object as well. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a book lying open and face down on the table.

_Why the hell would anyone do that?!_ Asaya thought. As someone who spent a lot of time around books, it irritated her whenever someone did that because it damaged the spine.

Interestingly, taped on the bottom of the spine was a white paper slip on which a series of numbers and capital letters were written. _A library book?_ What would he be doing with a library book?

She looked at it a moment while she contemplated closing it. Itachi would probably know she had touched his belonging and might become angry with her. Despite her better judgment, she picked it up anyway. When she had it in her hand she read the title; _The Human Stain._ She remembered reading it a few years back. It was a slightly odd thing for a criminal to read. Or maybe it wasn’t?

But since she already had it in her hand, she also decided to sit down and read it. She would hear Itachi opening the door anyway.

* * *

 

Itachi walked down the hallway quickly. He wanted to be gone as soon as possible. And Asaya had better be up by the time he got back.

 But before he was able to put his foot on the first stair down, he heard an interesting remark.

“Hey, did you see Densho talking with that girl last night?” One of the waiters said.

“Yeah, looks like they hit it off. She looks a little young for him though.” Another answered.

Itachi stopped at the top of the stairs. The two waiters talking downstairs were having an intriguing conversation.

“He sure didn’t seem to care. Neither did she, from what I saw.”

“Man, I wish I was as smooth with the ladies as he was. Did you see her pass him that note? She must’ve given him her info, or something.”

“No way! Did that really happen?”

“Yeah, we totally gotta ask him when he gets here. Where is he, anyway? He’s always been on time.”

Itachi had heard enough of the conversation and continued down the stairs. As soon as he walked into the main room, the two waiters immediately shut up, looking awkwardly at each other.

Regardless of them Itachi walked confidently over to the register where the owner was reviewing transaction records. “How can I help you?” He said.

“I would like to check out.” Itachi stated plainly.

“Sure, that’ll be 8,500 yen please. Is there anything else you need?”

“Do you know where your employee named Densho is?”

The owner took a breath when he heard Densho’s name. “I apologize if he harassed your sister, sir. I will talk to him.”

“But do you know where he is?” Itachi persisted.

“He should be here right now. But if I had to guess, he is probably headed here from the west side of town, down the main street.” The man said hesitantly. He didn’t want any trouble.

Itachi then paid the man and said “My sister and I will be gone by noon.” before heading out the front door.

Swiftly Itachi scanned the streets from the rooftops, looking for the man he saw Asaya talking to last night. He had to find the man before it was too late.

Then he heard the footsteps behind him and stopped. Turning around, he saw the man he was looking for.

“Looking for me?” Said Densho.

Itachi took a few steps toward the man and looked him straight in the eye, red sharingan flashing. “Last night, you were given a letter from the girl traveling with me. What did it say?”

“Now why would I tell you that? It might be personal.” Densho pulled two shuriken from his back pocket and threw them at Itachi.

To dodge, Itachi leapt high up into the air and exhaled a fireball.

Densho quickly performed a few hand seals and created a dome of earth to protect him. He was saved from burning alive, but he could hear the sound of his shield cracking under the pressure. When the flames stopped, Densho realized that he lost track of Itachi, only to feel his feet kicked out from under him. He thought quickly and when he hit the roof, he flipped backwards three times to put distance between him and Itachi. Now in the corner of the roof, he readied himself for the next move.

From the other corner, Itachi asked, “You must be from Iwa like her, then. Did she have you send a message back home?”

“Heh, yeah, not that it’ll do you any good to know that now. I sent the letters off by carrier hawk as soon as the storm broke. There’s no way you could intercept them now.” Densho said smugly.

_Damn!_ Itachi thought. Densho was right; those letters would be miles away by now. There was no way he could intercept.

Densho hurried at him with a stone fist technique. When his fist first hit Itachi, he was thrilled that he landed a blow on the renowned criminal. But he was soon dismayed when Itachi dispersed as a flock of crows.

“A clone..?” He whispered in shock. A second later he found himself standing back in the middle of the roof with the cold steel of a kunai pressed to his throat. “Genjutsu, huh? You know, she warned me about you. Guess I should have listened, huh?”

It only took one motion for Itachi to slit the thin skin of his throat.

* * *

 

Back in the hotel room, Asaya sat absorbed reading Itachi’s book. She sat cross legged in the chair while chewing a thumbnail between her teeth. Books were always so different when read a second time.

As she turned the page to a new chapter, she took a break. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She must have been reading for… Wait, what time was it? The clock on the nightstand read 9:02. That seemed odd. Itachi said that he was just going to check out, so why wasn’t he back by now? There was no way checking out of a hotel took 45 minutes.

She tapped her finger on the book. Should she go look for Itachi, or stay here and wait?

As if to answer her question, the doorknob turned and Itachi opened the door. There was an incredulous look in his eye as examined her. She immediately put the book back on the table and her hands in her lap. Her expression revealed that she knew she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

Reading his book without permission was probably not the worst thing she could have done, so Itachi decided to let it go. He walked over and picked up his sugegasa and said, “Let’s go.”

Silently, she followed him through the door, down the stairs, and out onto the street.

* * *

 

The street down this town was the same as almost every other town they had been to so far. There were some large street- like the one they were on- connected by smaller avenues and alleys running between them. Wooden buildings were all built and constructed the same, the street was paved with the same cobblestone, and the signs were all painted with the same words in the same font. Even the street was the same wet streets always were after storms. Or at least that was what Asaya thought, but she wasn’t a big fan of water country architecture.

“Asaya-san,” Itachi said.

“Hm?” his words caught Asaya off guard. He didn’t usually speak to her, and when he did he usually addressed her by her surname.

“Last night you said you were in ANBU, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then if that is true you should have a tattoo as proof. Show it to me.”

It was an odd request, but not the worst thing he could have asked. Reaching around her head with her left hand, she pulled her hair away from the right side of her head. Her right hand reached up and pulled her earlobe down to expose a small, delicate symbol discreetly hidden behind her ear.

It was an interesting place to put a tattoo, but it did make more sense than the shoulder placement where his was. Behind the ear it was much better concealed from view.

“May I ask you a question, Itachi-san?” She said quietly.

“…Sure.” He figured that it couldn’t hurt.

“The book you have, it is a library book, right? Why do you have such a thing?”

“I took it from a library a while back.” Intercepting her next question, he said, “To read it, of course.”

That was an interesting practice, maybe one suited to a criminal who didn’t stay in one place long enough to make use of a library card. Stealing public literature was probably the least offensive crime he had ever committed. “But then what will you do with the book once you have finished with it?”

“I will drop it off at the next library when I get another book.” He said it like she should have already known by inference.

So he was a noble thief then? Or maybe that was just the most convenient thing to do. In a strange way, it made sense to her. If library books were for the public to borrow and read, why did it matter that he exchanged books from one to the next, even if they were from different countries. A book for a book was an equivalent exchange, after all. Perhaps the only issue was that he obviously didn’t pay taxes to pay for the public service, but oh well.

As they passed out of the town and onto the main road, Asaya noted that this town entrance looked exactly like every other town entrance.

Across his shoulder, Itachi could see her making the same face she always made when she was thinking about something. Her brow was delicately knitted together, her eyes blankly staring ahead at the ground, and hands fumbling with her sleeves. Itachi inwardly cursed himself for what he was about to do. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

“… Your book,” she said timorously, “why did you choose it? I mean, obviously it attracted you, but what exactly within it were you were hoping to read?”

Of course she would ask about that. Although, it was a surprisingly bright thing to ask. “As you may have guessed, Asaya-san, I am somewhat of a cynic. Perhaps an exploration into some of humanity’s flaws was what I was hoping to read.”

That answer was true, but it was deliberately vague and nonspecific. It was the kind of answer one would write on a test if they weren’t quite sure of the correct response but still wanted to try and fool the teacher. Though she supposed she shouldn’t have expected any more from him.

“Did you find what you were looking for? In the book, I mean?” It was against her better judgment to ask, but she did anyway.

“I haven’t read very far, so I cannot say.” His reply came almost too easily.

_Liar,_ Asaya thought. This morning when she found the book it showed that he had read over halfway through it. “I’m sure you’ll like it.” The words sounded a bit more sarcastic than she meant them to.

“So have you read it?” Itachi guessed. Why did he continue to ask her these stupid questions?

“Yes, a few years ago.” She still didn’t look at him, and instead kept her focus on the road ahead.

“And why did you read it?”

“Hmm…,” she thought, “the same reason you did, I suppose.”

Itachi wasn’t really inclined to believe she had the same motivation as he did. The idea was almost laughable to him. “What did you find, then?”

Small hands scratched the back of her head as she tried to articulate for herself “I found the story of how one man’s life was both created and destroyed by public opinion, regardless of his intentions. And how the pursuit of an independent destiny unrestricted by the chains of societal oppression forces one to become what they despise. It is the defacement of the myth of tabula rasa, if you will.”

Itachi let her words ring softly between his ears for a moment. What she said was not a perfect bull’s eye, but the dart hit dangerously close to center.

When he didn’t say anything, Asaya began to wonder if she had said something wrong. The uncertainty brought a hollow feeling to her chest. They were far out of sight from the town now. All that surrounded them was a muddy road and marshland.

“Asaya-san,” the anticipation of what he was about to say kept her from breathing, “you have a very articulate and formal manner of speaking. Where did you learn it?”

Relief fluttered through her. She didn’t know what she was illogically expecting him to do, but that wasn’t it. “When I was growing up it was forced on me. And I guess that working for the Tsuchikage and his family for so long made the habit stick. Do you find it bothersome?” She asked sincerely.  It wasn’t the idea of bothering him with her words that she was concerned with, but that he was also well spoken so it was strange he would be.

“No, not at all. Then your family must have been aristocratic if you were educated that way.”

“Not really, they were just high strung. It’s not relevant though.” Even if she told him everything she knew about her family, it wouldn’t do him any good. And even thought she would rather not talk about it, it was better that she misled him into thinking that it was somehow important.

Itachi still maintained that he had no personal interest in this girl, but her reluctance to disclose information about them coupled with the fact that she only spoke of them in the past tense dangled before him like a feather on a string. He would have to ask at another time. For now there was something else he had to say to her.

“That man you were talking to last night, did you know him from somewhere?”

He said it so casually that Asaya was sure he was mocking her. “No, why?” She tried not to, but her head tilted slightly in suspicion.

In an instant Itachi’s hand shot up and griped her throat. The reflection of his red eyes burned intensely in her own. With his other hand he pulled two small pieces of folded paper from his pocket and showed them to her. “Do you recognize these?”

No words left her mouth, but her pupils nervously twitched while she looked at the papers. They were the letters she had asked Densho to send to Iwa.

His hand tightened its grip, preventing her from breathing. The oxygen in her lungs quickly dissolved. He examined her facade before saying, “You were a fool to think you could sneak these past me. Do not think you can try it again.”

She looked directly into his eyes. Sure, she was terrified, but she refused to let him know it. He had already told her that he wasn’t allowed to damage her. And after the fact there was no point in fearing the consequences. What could he possibly do to her that she hadn’t already lived through?

When he let go of her she stumbled forward. She hadn’t realized, but he had almost suspended her over the ground in his hand. Her hands rubbed her neck as she coughed and wheezed painfully.

Itachi walked on as if nothing had happened. But he did turn his head to say, “Remember, Kagami-san, that man is now dead because of you.”

Guilt poured through her heart immediately. She never should have asked Densho to deliver those letters, or even admitted to him who she was, or even talked to him. Just meeting him by chance was too good to be true and she should have known better than to selfishly waste his life on a stupid, foolish, unrealistic impulse. Those letters weren’t even worth anything comparatively. _It’s my fault_ , and there was no excuse.

Asaya painfully looked at Itachi as he walked away, like everything was completely normal. Her mind was caught in a wordless maelstrom until he turned back at her and said, “I should not need to remind you to keep up.” And then he continued on again.

Asaya had no choice but to follow him.


	6. Good Intent II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place right after chapter 5.

It was a beautiful day, all things considered. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and the temperature wasn’t too hot or cold. The raised dirt road Itachi and Asaya walked along was perfectly picturesque. It trailed the perimeter of a provincial rice farming village in a remote Water Country island. The paddy water gleamed still and peacefully under the sunlight, with fresh, young sprouts eagerly peaking out into the air. A few small houses and sheds adorned the rice paddies like tree ornaments.

Regrettably, all of this pastoral beauty was lost on Asaya, as she thought of nothing and only concentrated on the abrasive sound of her feet dragging along the ground. Every time she began to think, she would remember how Itachi killed Densho and guilt would sweep over her conscience. It was better to not think at all.

A feint chattering drifted into Asaya’s right ear. At first it only softly accompanied the scraping of her feet, but it quickly grew loud enough to squelch everything else. Perking her head up, she looked to her left to find the noise originating from a group of young boys playing 60 meters away on the bank of the rice paddy across from her. She stopped and squinted her eyes, curious as to what these boys were so excited about. One smaller boy frantically circled a huddle of larger boys, trying to break into the group, but they easily kept him out.

Within the boisterous noise of the larger group, the week, distressed cry of the little boy came through. “Stop! Stop hurting her!”

For a moment Asaya held her breath before impulsively throwing off her shoes and running vigorously toward the commotion. “Hey!” She forcefully shouted at them. “What’s going on?!” Her feet violently splashed through the water, carelessly trampling the delicate rice reeds in her wake.

Like frightened deer the boys froze when they saw the oncoming, rabid woman. One of them yelled “Run!” and they shrieked and scattered as fast as they could, a few of them dropping sticks.

“You better run!” Reaching the bank, Asaya grabbed a pebble from the water and threw it at a boy in an orange shirt. He yelped and stumbled over before scrambling up and running again.

After the larger boys were far enough from view, the solitary little boy walked passed Asaya to gently pick up a small, fuzzy creature. She watched him quietly as he cradled a little bunny in his tiny arms with all the care a mother would give her baby. Large, innocent, tear-stained eyes tenderly doted on the white, baby bunny. “Thank you.” Mumbling it to her, he bowed politely and walked away.

“Take care.” Asaya whispered sympathetically.

Looking left, a black silhouette stood on the other side of the water like a ghost.

* * *

 

Itachi heard Asaya suddenly shout and dash across the water. Now alert, his head snapped to the left to focus on what was happening. A group of young boys were roughhousing excitedly. Exactly what did she think she was doing? How was it any of her business?

Standing still, Itachi shifted his weight to one leg as he watched. A slender eyebrow curved when he saw her threaten and throw a rock at the fleeing boys. One smaller boy stayed behind and picked something up from where the group had been, presumably a stolen possession. The boy politely bowed to Asaya and left.

Some seconds of silence passed while Itachi watched Asaya, and she in turn watched the little boy momentarily as he walked away, but she did eventually remember him. She then obediently walked the perimeter of the rice paddy and returned.

Her shoes were still on the ground where she threw them off, but after picking them up she didn’t put them back on. Dust and dirt covered her feet, and walking in wet, dirty shoes wasn’t exactly appealing. She stood beside him, with tight shoulders and curled toes. “Sorry for running off like that.” She demurely apologized.

A genuinely troubled element rested in her eyes. “What’s wrong?” Itachi questioned, not convinced it was normal.

“That boy’s rabbit… I don’t think it lived.”

* * *

 

The sun had hidden behind the trees by the time the pair reached the rendezvous spot. The red light glowed angrily against the black, shadow-enveloped trees. Crows cawed ominously to each other as Itachi and Asaya walked by, as if they were planning something. An abandoned cluster of buildings huddled claustrophobically together in a small clearing. _How do they know where all of these places are?_ Asaya wondered. Although, it was logical that criminals naturally flock to abandoned and hidden places as part of their lifestyle.

Bathed in the red light and shadows of the evening, the buildings looked like an optimal place to be murdered. The main building was made of splintered wood paneling with a rusted sheet metal roof. The architecture was very traditional, despite the metal roof, with sliding rice paper doors and a wrap around deck. Clearly, it had been abandoned for years if not decades.

Itachi walked up to the main building and slid open the door to step inside, not bothering to take off his shoes. Before following him, Asaya wearily glanced over her shoulder.

The house’s interior was surprisingly modern, given its antiquated external appearance. The foyer conjoined the living and dining rooms, with a straight hallway leading to the kitchen. What little furniture and accommodations left were even more decomposed than the rest of the house. A leek in the roof had let water damage the blue couch in the living room, so it had molded, leaving a pungent stench in the air.

The kitchen had no appliances except for the sink. The rest were presumably stolen. Many of the white tiles on the floor were cracked or missing, and dirt had accumulated in the grout, resulting in more mould. This was by far the most disgusting place she had ever been, Asaya thought, hoping that they weren’t going to stay for long.

Loud, rhythmic thudding noises came from the level above them, moving from one side of the ceiling to the stairs at the other end of the kitchen. The perpetrator, none other than Kisame, walked down the stairs with heavier steps than necessary. “Nice to see someone finally showed up. Don’t tell me that little sprinkling stopped you?”

Ignoring Kisame’s attempt at mockery, Itachi cut to the chase and asked, “Where are the others?”

“Beats me. Ever since we recruited that new kid they’ve been late for everything.” Kisame stood still at the bottom of the stairs.

At least now they weren’t technically the late ones, Itachi thought relieved. They would have to set up camp soon though, as the natural light was fast disappearing from the window. “Go and get something to eat.” He said to Kisame while walking out the back door. “I’ll start a fire.”

* * *

The sky blackened immediately after Itachi lit a fire. Luckily, the temperature cooled and became comfortable enough for outdoor camping, because sleeping in that rotten house was not an option. He and Asaya set up camp just outside the doors of a large storage shed that had been used to store giant logs. Apparently, this establishment had belonged to a family of loggers. It was uncannily convenient, since it meant there was an easy supply of dry firewood.

As she sat cross legged in front of the fire, Asaya bathed pleasantly in the orange heat. She was so easily warmed she took off her jacket and set it lackadaisically crumpled up beside her. Itachi sat adjacent to her and took off his coat as well. However, he folded it neatly before setting it aside. The flames smoldered tranquilly, spitting out only the occasional crackle or hiss. After some time the radiant heat accumulated on the surface of his skin, causing an itchy burn.

_“Hey!”_ Asaya’s voice echoed in Itachi’s head, echoed by the splash of small feet through the rice paddy. “Why didn’t you use chakra to walk across the water?”

The question was so unprompted that Asaya almost didn’t hear it. Somewhat puzzled, she casually said, “I didn’t think of it at the time, I guess.”

The unprofessional mentality this girl had baffled Itachi sometimes. “Why- Why did you intervene, anyway?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time?” Asaya watched him look back into the fire, rather dissatisfied. Now uncomfortable, she pulled he knees up to her chest and hugged her legs. “Why? Is something wrong with it?” She was hesitantly suspicious.

“No. Nothing.” Since he answered with such inattentive words, he was obviously keeping something to himself.

_Well fine,_ Asaya thought flippantly, but tactfully said, “You know, since I always answer your questions, you could try and answer mine sometime. It’s not unreasonable.”

Admittedly, Itachi did find her solicitation funny, given the circumstances. Almost cheeky. “You’re my abductee; I don’t have to be reasonable.”

Asaya thought he was being completely serious at first. But then she realized he was being wry, and she bit her lip in a smile.

Itachi watched the firelight cast tenebristic shadows across Asaya’s profile, accentuating the small, feminine dimple that formed with her bashful smile. Her pale skin glowed softly, like the sky at the earliest break of dawn. Though she coyly looked away from him, there was a cheerful glint in her eyes she couldn’t hide.

 Rarely did anyone find anything Itachi said funny. His dry and sarcastic style of humor wasn’t appreciated by many anyway, but he was surprised at how refreshing it was to see her smile.

However, casually joking with her wasn’t appropriate; there were certain boundaries Itachi needed to respect. “Kisame is back.” He announced to her, as if she didn’t know.

The blue giant emerged from the woods with a few fish gripped firmly in his left hand. He lumbered over to the fire, where he knelt down, crudely skewered the carcasses, and propped them up to roast. “Ne, you hungry, Itachi-san?” Kisame exclusively addressed his partner.

“No.”

_Is that all he eats? It’s so cliché…_ Asaya thought derisively with an obviously disgusted expression.

At the sight of the girl’s face, Kisame only chuckled with satisfaction; he knew she despised seafood. Returning his attention to Itachi, Kisame asked, “So what do we do if they don’t show?”

“If they aren’t here by noon tomorrow, we’ll head to the nearest town and wait for either Zetsu to contact us or for them to figure out where we went. I don’t plan on camping out for days on end.” Itachi always planned ahead.

Relief graced Asaya with those words. Not that she wasn’t accustomed to enduring the wilderness, but hotel beds were so much more comfortable than dirt.

* * *

 

Midmorning the next day, the trenchant mutterings of Itachi and Kisame gently woke Asaya. She lay still and drowsy, almost unable to make sense of their voices in her somnolent state.

“I say we leave now. That way we’re sure to make it to town before nightfall.” Kisame’s voice was definitely not the most pleasant thing to wake up to.

“I would agree, but if you’ll look, you can see them on the horizon.” Itachi’s voice was very preferable.

It was too difficult to truly comprehend what they were talking about while the dirt persuasively lulled Asaya back to sleep. The small, rhythmic tremors of their footsteps walking away only made it worse. She was so blissfully close to sleep when one large pulse snatched her back to full consciousness. Immediately sitting straight up, she grabbed her forehead with one hand while a minor ache slowly subsided. It didn’t take long to figure out where Itachi and Kisame went. _Thery're here…!_

* * *

 

On sight of his fellow Akatsuki members Kisame shouted, “What in hell took you so long?!”

His colleagues disembarked from a gigantic, amorphous, winged sculpture. One of them- a grumpy, old, tortoise-like hunchback- shouted back, “We would have been here on time if it weren’t for this amateur. I hate being late.”

“Ameture?!” his young partner brashly challenged, “The hell do you mean by that, hm? I have more than enough experience to be a professional, yeah!” The young man jumped off the sculpture after his senior. “If it wasn’t for my talent, we wouldn’t be able to get around so fast, un.” He pointed to the bird to emphasize the point before forming a hand seal, shrinking the sculpture to a handheld size in a cloud of smoke.

The narrow, steely sharp eyes of the black tortoise scowled freely at the young man. “Maybe, but if you’ll remember, you’re ‘talent’ almost destroyed the building we were supposed to infiltrate!”

“But it didn’t, did it? Hm?”

“You’re an insufferable fool…”

Kisame chuckled at his colleague’s misery. Itachi wasn’t much older than the blond boy, but he was far more tolerable.

“Sasori-san, do you know why Leader sent you to meet us?” Itachi addressed the tortoise, not wanting to waste time on their squabbling.

“Of course I do, don’t you?”

When Itachi hesitated to answer, the young man immediately caught on the implication. “You mean Leader just told you to show up here without telling you why? Ha! He must think so highly of you, hm.” He smugly boasted.

Itachi’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. That boy really was insufferable.

* * *

 

Two small hands with short fingers nervously gripped the decayed wood paneling of the abandoned house as Asaya curiously watched the new Akatsuki members arrive. Exactly what other kinds of people made up in this organization? Itachi seemed normal enough- or at least normal for a criminal- but Kisame and that Zetsu creature obviously weren’t. The first was a tortoise-like, hunchbacked creature, just as menacing as Kisame by appearance. The other had no obvious abnormalities, but it was hard to tell through the cloak and sugegasa.

The voices of all four could be heard, but they were too far away to understand their conversation. The one she couldn’t see was male with a very hoarse and abrasive quality, like desert sand. The other was male too, but it was far younger, animated, and boisterous. Asaya’s face wrinkled uncomfortably. His voice had an uncanny similarity to a punk she used to know.

* * *

 “Quiet, Deidara. We weren’t told much of anything either.” Sasori scolded. “Itachi, we just stole a scroll from a temple in Fire Country. It’s sealed, but we were told you could open it.”

“Open it?” Kisame interjected. “Neither of us know how to unlock seals. Leader must be confused.”

Deidara looked at the blue man in disbelief and groaned. “So we came all the way to middle of nowhere Water Country for nothing, hm?”

A spark of insight lit a fire in Itachi’s mind. _Asaya,_ he thought. “We can’t open the scroll, but I think I know who can.”

“You’re joking.” Kisame couldn’t believe what his partner was implying. He and the other two Akatsuki looked questioningly at Itachi.

“A while ago, Kisame and I were sent to Iwa to abduct a girl. Leader ordered us to hold her until further notice.” Itachi noticed Deidara look down and away, definitely contemplating something. “Do you know something, Deidara-san?”

“That’s right,” Kisame said, “you’re both from Iwa, and she’s about your age, too. You probably went to school together.”

 “Maybe, yeah. What’s this girl like, hm?” Deidara took off his sugegasa and shifted his weight to one side. The chance that this girl was who he thought excited him.

Impatient, Sasori interrupted, “I have a better question; where is this supposed girl? I don’t see her and I doubt she’s invisible.”

Itachi took the liberty of answering, “She’s been watching us from behind that building.”

Looking at the corner, they saw a small head quickly disappear behind the wall. A mischievous, impish smile blossomed on Deidara’s face. “Hmm, I guess I’ll have to see for myself, yeah.” He made his way confidently toward the corner.

* * *

 

As the new Akatsuki reached up to take off his sugegasa, Asaya subconsciously inched her head and shoulder further around the corner. But when his blond, blue-eyed face was exposed, her brain momentarily refused to process the visual information. What cruel cosmic irony designed this twist of fate? It was a moment of complete and utter consternation.

The four Akatsuki turned their heads to look her way. Asaya recoiled from the corner and flattened her back against the wall, heart beating like a rabbit on the run. What would happen now that Deidara was present? He knew things that the others didn’t, changing the circumstantial dynamics entirely.

The footsteps of one of them were closing in. It was Deidara- it had to be. He had the ability to resist curiosity with the strength of thin porcelain. Closing her eyes and holding her breath, counting down the moment where he was just around the corner…

When one black, polished toe peeked beyond the building, Asaya panicked like a cornered feline. Her claw reached around the corner and ensnared the left side of his blond head, violently slamming it against the splintered wood three times. Deidara, completely disoriented, buckled over, giving Asaya the opportunity to knee him in the stomach. Groaning, he fell to his knees then to the ground. His scope lay broken on the ground beside him, tiny shards of the shattered glass lens twinkling.

Asaya lorded over him, tempted to kick him again for good measure, but tempered herself into walking away.

No one quite understood what had just happened, or why. Unable to say a word, neither Itachi nor Kisame would have predicted that Asaya, who, despite her multiple escape attempts, always behaved so submissive and demure, would so savagely assault Deidara at the first opportunity. They stood still while trying to figure it out.

“I like this girl.” Sasori stated.

* * *

 

“So let me guess- ex girlfriend?” Kisame said to Deidara as he weakly stood up.

“Not quite, yeah.” Coughed Deidara. “We were friends before I left Iwa, hm.” He cradled his throbbing head in his left hand, one eye squinting.

“Then what’d you do to piss her off?”

“Well, I’m probably not the most popular guy after deserting my village, yeah.”

Deidara was obviously ashamed of whatever he wasn’t saying, but no one cared to inquire about it. However, Itachi did find it advantageous that Deidara knew Asaya. Maybe now he could get some answers.

“I don’t find your childhood memories worth wasting time over.” Sasori stated. “Itachi, we have a scroll for you to open. Can you or not?”

Relieved at Sasori’s words, Itachi wanted to get this over with just as much. “No, I cannot, but I think the girl can.”

“I know for a fact she can, yeah.” Deidara interjected. “She apprentices directly under Iwa’s grand master. Or at least she did before I left, un.”

Slender, black eyebrows twitched. Why wasn’t Itachi made aware of this sooner? Thinking back to the other night in the hotel, he wondered why he didn’t realize Asaya was lying about her life. “She claimed that she worked for the Tsuchikage’s family.”

Looking out the corner of his good eye, Deidara thought about it. “Back in the day she used to babysit one of the Tsuchikage’s grandsons. The family liked her so they probably kept her around, un.”

So Asaya hadn’t exactly _lied_ , but it didn’t make Itachi feel any better.

As far as Sasori was concerned, Itachi and Deidara’s conversation amounted to idle chatter. There was a mission that should have been done by now. “If you want to gossip about this girl’s personal life, do it over tea and cake. Stop sidetracking and get back to the mission, Deidara.”

Deidara’s lip curled as Sasori specifically addressed him. That condescending, smug way of talking down to him grated his nerves. And there was no reason to rush anyway. There wasn’t another mission lined up at the moment and Leader technically hadn’t given them a deadline. The ancient doll just wanted to complain and boss him around.

* * *

 

Asaya looked up from where she was sitting in the shed when the Akatsuki rounded the corner. Something bad was about to happen- she knew it. Especially now that Deidara was with them. He could spill all sorts of beans: abilities, history, her favorite color, everything! They would probably torture her for village secrets too. The other new Akatsuki – Sasori, she remembered them saying- was probably some sort of torture expert. Now that she thought about it, Itachi and Kisame had probably been holding her until he arrived for interrogation. And then after words she would have to be disposed of. Kisame was probably planning on eating her alive, or at least whatever was left over…

The four loomed over her like vultures above an emaciated calf. Asaya froze for a moment before Deidara pulled a cylindrical object out of his coat pocket and threw it on the ground before her. She nervously pulled her feet underneath her, half expecting it to explode.

“Open it.” The black tortoise commanded.

Asaya looked at the red and green scroll on the ground, examining the label closely. “I can’t. It’s-”

“Bullshit, un.” Deidara interrupted. “Don’t even try to lie, hm.”

_Damnit…_ Asaya winced. It was worth a try.

“If you fail to comply, Kagami-san, we have ways of making you.” Itachi gently warned, eyes flashing red.

With a sullen sigh Asaya picked up the scroll. The seal was a basic explosion type; not the most complicated thing in the world, but there were obvious consequences if it wasn’t disarmed properly. _Fire Country._ The craftsmanship was immediately recognizable. That country’s work was relatively easy to deal with since they usually used recycled formulas.

_I could just open it now and take us all out at once…_ Asaya cynically thought. Maybe they didn’t know it was volatile, but it was ironic that these terrorists would so readily hand her something so dangerous.

“How imperative is it that this is opened?” She asked, almost inaudibly.

“If it wasn’t important, why would we have gone through the trouble of getting you?” Sasori’s callous words made her wince and she sucked in her stomach.

Asaya explained, “If I try and open this, it could inadvertently explode.”

“Then you better not make a mistake.”

* * *

 

A few hours had gone by and Asaya still hadn’t unsealed the scroll. Unfortunately, no one had been able to provide her with anything to write with, so she improvised by pulling a rusted nail out of the shed wall and writing on the dirt. Mental fatigue had set in, making her hand drag as it scratched the dirt and her eyes to intermittently stare at the symbols as if she were illiterate. It had been so long since she had been away from her studies that she had forgotten how tedious it could be. Checking and rechecking, making extra sure that everything matched up- was she even using the right formulas in the first place?

The four Akatsuki sat in a circle some feet away from Asaya. Occasionally, they would glance at the girl to make sure she wasn’t causing trouble, but otherwise ignored her to talk amongst themselves. Eventually though, the black tortoise ran out of patience and yelled, “Are you finished yet?”

Asaya snapped her head up immediately, looking at him like a squirrel caught in the middle of the road. Instead of speaking, she slowly twisted her head side to side.

Sasori grumbled dissatisfied, but turned back to his collogues and continued ignoring her.

However, Itachi had been watching Asaya fairly closely. Mostly because he didn’t quite trust her with something that could explode, but partially because his colleague’s trivial chatting wasn’t any more interesting than watching a girl tediously scribble on dirt with a rusty nail in a rather chicken-like manner. He watched compulsively when she startled like a field mouse at Sasori’s interrogative question.

That timid, demure meekness she outwardly exhibited belied the earlier incident where she so naturally assaulted Deidara. In the moment Itachi couldn’t have been more astonished, but thinking about it the independent and defiant look in her eyes he sometimes saw when she thought no one was paying attention hadn’t left the behavior completely unforeshadowed. The truly impressive part, however, was her ability to tactfully control these qualities to her advantage.

What was going on in her head, exactly? As the minutes passed, a cloud of anxiety gradually manifested over Asaya. Itachi surmised that she thought that after she opened that scroll they- probably he- would kill her. Her usefulness would have expired and they couldn’t just let her go. She was just another unlucky casualty in the path of Akatsuki’s goals. But really, was it any different than dying as a kunoichi- a tool- in the name of your village?

It was all rather conventionally tragic.

* * *

 

Stars twinkled in the darkness like pinholes through black paper. As it was the beginning of the lunar month, no moonlight glowed over the pristine forest leaves or the roofs of the decaying buildings. Instead, a strong, yellow-orange fire illuminated the wood panel walls, only disrupted by the silhouettes of five figures.

The first four sat in the immediate area of the fire, and they cast the largest shadows. They had completely forgotten the much smaller fifth shadow, which took the form of a sleeping woman.

When Asaya had finished, she didn’t bother telling the others. She was too tired to really care, and, seeing that they had forgotten about her anyway, took the liberty of flopping over and falling asleep.

The first to notice she wasn’t sitting upright anymore was Deidara. “Does she always do that, hm?” He pointed at her.

The other three shifted their attention onto her. “Stupid cow…” Kisame grumbled.

Curious, Deidara stood up and walked over towards Asaya, stretching his arms and back to relieve the stiffness that accumulated over hours of sitting still.

“I dare you to wake her up!” Kisame teased as Deidara stood over the sleeping girl.

The blond shot an angry look over his shoulder at the sharkman’s challenge. “I’m just seeing if she opened it or not, yeah!” He defended himself- although he was wary of disturbing Asaya.

By all appearances Asaya slept solidly, curled into a ball with an arm for a pillow. The scroll was laying about a foot in front of her face. Thinking back to their academy days, Deidara remembered that she was the most Olympic of all sleepers. But despite the placid, innocent face, Deidara saw a dragon guarding treasure. He swallowed his fear for the sake of his image and knelt down on one knee to pick up the scroll, hand reaching out slowly and eyes watching for the slightest twitch of her body. He knew she would attack him again if she woke up.

Luckily, she didn’t even stir and he held the treasure, smirking triumphantly. “Stupid cow, yeah.”

Wham! Pain plastered sharply across his left cheek for the second time that day, knocking him backwards on his ass. “Dammit!” He shouted, cradling his face to soothe the stinging.

“What did you just say?” Asaya accosted, boldly standing over him on her knees with a raised fist. “Want to say it again?”

Narrow blue eyes focused on Asaya’s brown. “Dammit, Sasa-chan! What did I ever do to you, huh?”

“ _Really?”_ Asaya was offended by the question. “That shouldn’t need an explanation, jackass. And don’t call me that.”

This time, the other three weren’t so shocked. Kisame laughed deeply with shining teeth, happy that his expectation came true. And there was a sense of bitter pleasure that Sasori felt at his partner’s suffering. Even Itachi couldn’t deny that the whole thing was rather ironic.

Between chuckles, Kisame suggested, “You know, Sasori, if you ask leader he might let you keep her. She seems to be good at keeping your partner in line.”

“I’m already contemplating it.” Sasori said. Having a puppet with the ability to beat that punk to the ground was a terribly cathartic vision.

“Seriously, why are you so pissed off, un?!” Deidara crossly asked.

Puffing out her chest and shoulders, Asaya berated him, “Do you have any idea how much crap I was put through after you defected!? I almost lost my apprenticeship because of you! They even threatened to dishonorably discharge me!” She expressively flailed her arms about to exaggerate her point.

“Hey, I never thought they’d accuse you-”

“No, you didn’t think, did you? That’s kind of your problem; you’re a narcissistic, audacious, egotistical, selfish asshole! For all the times you’ve gotten me in trouble…”

Watching Deidara and Asaya bicker childishly was much more entertaining than the three would like to admit. In all honesty, it was probably the funniest thing to happen since Itachi and Kisame first kidnapped the girl.

Kisame jokingly asked, “Do you think we should stop them or wait and see if she hits him again?”

“Leave them.” Sasori said decisively. “Hopefully she’ll kill him and I can get a new partner.” It was a sincere desire. “And where is Zetsu? He’s late.”

It was a good question. Itachi had been wondering the same thing. Although, by now Zetsu’s tardiness didn’t surprise him. Everything involving that girl was slow, tedious, and frustrating. He hoped that when Zetsu did show up, they could just hand over the scroll and be done with the ordeal that she was.

But as he looked at Asaya vigorously quarreling with Deidara, he remembered how vivaciously she had defended the young boy and his rabbit and his feelings began to betray himself.

Squawking chickens was an accurate comparison to the sound of Asaya and Deidara’s arguing- or chattering squirrels, or even crotchety old men. They sat facing each other, gesturing with their hands to enhance their words.

Leaning forward, Asaya placed one hand on the ground to stabilize herself as she pointed one finger directly at Deidara. “I couldn’t have been happier that your obnoxious ass defected! And it looks like you’ve finally found a group of people just as unpleasant as you for friends. You should-”

The feeling of the earth shivering beneath her hand stopped her mid-sentence. She looked at the ground confused.

“What? Finally run out of stupid things to say, hm?” Deidara took advantage of her sudden silence.

“Shut up.” She curtly commanded, lifting her hand from the ground.

The earth vibrated again, strong enough for them to feel it through their legs. They stared at the ground between them.

A large, green plant erupted from the ground, causing both Deidara and Asaya to scramble backwards in shock. Its two giant leaves folded open to reveal the black and white face of Zetsu. “Nice to see you again, Asaya-chan. Have you finished your homework?” White Zetsu playfully addressed the cringing girl.

He had never directly spoken to Asaya before, so she nervously froze with wide eyes and an open mouth.

“Well?” Zetsu’s gleefully menacing smile didn’t make her feel any better.

Now stricken mute, Asaya picked up the scroll in question- conveniently located to her right- and held it out to him.

“Good girl! We’re so proud of you.” He fully emerged from the ground before taking the scroll and walking away towards Itachi and the others, stepping around Deidara on the way.

Looking at Itachi and Kisame, White Zetsu said, “Leader will be happy to know she passed her test. Seems she is who we wanted.”

Itachi caught the implication immediately. “Was there ever a question of identity? Or were we given misinformation?” He had asked similar questions before, but never got a clear or meaningful answer. Maybe with a large amount of luck it would be different this time.

“Well, technically no. You were never misinformed, but Leader may have been.” White Zetsu ambiguously said.

“Explain.” Itachi was not in the mood for these games.

Black Zetsu answered before his counterpart could run his mouth. **“Akatsuki was given the girl under _delicate_ circumstances.”**

“’Given?’” Itachi’s voice became more demanding. “What do you mean we were ‘given’ her?”

**“I can’t answer that. Leader doesn’t tell me everything.”** Black Zetsu was quick to answer.

Great. Now there were even more questions. Itachi could have stabbed himself.

Kisame took his turn to ask, “What do we do with her now, then?”

“Ah, yes!” Zetzu gleefully chimed. “You’re all going on a mission together!”

* * *

 

Thin, almost feminine fingers rhythmically tapped on a composite wood desk. Listless breath occasionally wheezed from the apathetic lungs of a sullen boy. Tsuta, as he was called, recently began spending excessive amounts of time stagnating in his room like this: alone, silent, and in the dark. This behavior started when he got the news. He has skipped school again, too- not that anyone was making him go anymore. Asaya was the only one who ever had, and she was gone.

The doorbell rang loudly from downstairs. Even when it chimed three more times, Tsuta chose to ignore it, continuing to tap his fingers on the desk unaffected.

The visitor wasn’t satisfied, and a moment after the ringing stopped began pounding on the bedroom window. “Hey, Tsuta-kun! I can see you. Open up!” It was his cousin Kurotsuchi.

Why didn’t he close the blinds? “Go away.” Tsuta said in a flat tone, not bothering to look at her.

“Look, I know you’re upset, but you have to come out sometime. Grandpa wants to see you in his office. Don’t make me drag you over there.” She threatened.

Groaning dramatically, Tsuta rose from the chair and walked out of his bedroom.

“You better be at the front door when I get there!”

It was a short but silent walk to the Tsuchikage’s- grandfather’s- office. Tsuta obviously wasn’t in the mood to talk and Kurotsuchi knew that anything she said would just upset him. Taking a deep breath, she politely opened the door for Tsuta as they walked in, anticipating the worst. Nothing good ever happened when Grandpa called family to the office. Unless it was for a mission, but Tsuta obviously wasn’t there for that.

(Describe the office?)

Kurotsuchi and Tsuta bowed respectfully to the Tsuchikage.

“Tsuta-kun,” He began. “I have an urgent letter for you.” His tone was serious and grave.

A letter? What could be so critical about a letter? Tsuta uncertainly approached the desk. Directly in the middle was a folded sheet of paper addressed to him. He recognized the handwriting immediately. Anxiety rushed through him with the intensity of a narcotic. “What is this?” His voice was broken and strained.

“It arrived last night by a hawk. There is a seal on the back that I need you to open.” The Tsuchikage explained.

Picking up the letter, Tsuta examined the seal on the back. It was defiantly Asaya’s work. “Do you have a knife?”

Kurotsuchi pulled a kunai from her pocket and handed it to her cousin. “Be careful.” She gently reminded him, worried there would be an accident.

After putting the letter on the table-seal side up- Tsuta pricked the tip of his right index finger, as if for a blood test. One tiny, red drop of beaded on his skin, which he dabbed on the seal.

This was how Asaya always sealed something meant solely for him. Unfortunately, blood was the most foolproof method of easily discouraging prying eyes. The black ink reacted to the blood by slowly evaporating off the paper.

Tsuta snatched the letter off the desk before the Tsuchikage could, eyes eagerly reading the words.

_Dear Tsuta,_

_I hope you will be glad to know that I am alive and mostly well…_

Tsuta couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her ridiculous habit of writing with an extremely formal voice. The letter went on to explain that she had been kidnapped- which was not what he had been told happened- by two criminals in a terrorist organization called Akatsuki. _Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame…_ He committed the names to memory.

_Do not question your grandfather about Akatsuki…_

Well, he’d just have to find a more indirect rout of getting information out of the old man. He knew how to ask the right people the right questions.

The last line told him not to worry, and that she would be home soon.

“Give me the letter, Tsuta.” The Tsuchikage commanded forcefully. “I never gave you permission to read it.”

Tsuta’s eyebrow twitched. Unlike everyone else in the family, Tsuta wasn’t a ninja drone. So as far as he was concerned, he didn’t have any obligation to mindlessly obey the Tsuchikage. The letter was addressed to him, not anybody else. And luckily, it looked like Asaya thought the same way. At the bottom of the paper was another seal, but this was the kind that would destroy the document when activated. With no lack of rebellion spent, Tsuta put his thumb on the seal and channeled a small amount of chakra into it.

 The old man watched horrified as the paper ignited and burned away in seconds. “Dammit, Tsuta!” He yelled, nose red as a plump, ripe strawberry. “That letter was classified! How dare you disobey your Tsuchikage!”

At this point in his life, Tsuta wasn’t at all bothered by Grandfather’s scolding. “It wasn’t me! Asaya put in a time sensitive seal.” He acted defensive anyway for the sake of lying.

Oonoki grumbled upset. “What did it say?”

“She just said not to worry about her and to take care of her apartment till she got back, since she already paid rent through the year. That’s all I read, I swear.” Tsuta lied coolly.

Asaya was the type to say hopeful words just to make someone feel better, even if she couldn’t always fulfill her promises. Knowing this, Oonoki begrudgingly let it go, but warned, “Fine, but if I find out you are lying to me, know that you are compromising Asaya’s safety, and there will be consequences. Now go.”

Tsuta bowed and left the office with Kurotsuchi following behind him.

“Why do you always have to be so difficult, Tsuta-kun?” She harassed immediately after closing the door.

“Hey, why don’t you go bother someone else for a while? I can walk home by myself.” Tsuta snapped back.

“Ugh! Tsuta- kun, you know Grandfather and everyone else cares just as much as you do about getting Asaya back. So why do you have to make things so difficult for him?”

They continued to argue the entire way home, right up to the front entrance where Tsuta said and abrupt goodbye and closed the door before Kurotsuchi could say anything to prolong the conversation.

Tsuta ran up to his room as fast as he could, grabbed the key to Asaya’s apartment, and left through the backdoor hoping no one would see him.


	7. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place sometime after chapter 6, but before 1 and 2.

Keys jingled as they landed on the faux-wood laminate countertop of a dark, empty apartment. Or perhaps not empty (there was one person standing in it) but unoccupied. At the moment, the apartment’s tenant- Kagami Asaya- was detained elsewhere in the world. Tsuta had let himself in with his spare key.He had gotten there much later in the evening than expected, but enough sunlight filtered in through the window that he could walk into the studio without turning the lights on.

This was an economy studio on the far side of town. It came with a bathroom; a kitchen with a small refrigerator, three square feet of counter space, a two burner stovetop, a toaster oven, a kettle, and a sink; and an 11’ x 11’ multipurpose living space. Asaya had furnished the place with a loft bed against the front of the room, two bookshelves on the left wall, a dresser on the right one, and a traditional sitting table in the center of the room. None of the furniture matched.

The table still had miscellaneous papers, magazines, books, pens, and other materials littered across it. All of which had collected a thin film of dust. A photography book of Fire Country Shinto temples lay open in a two page spread of some presumably famous torii gates. A half-written report had been left with an uncapped pen on top, as if Asaya had just gotten up for tea. Speaking of tea, he was happy to see that there weren’t any teacups or other dishes left sitting out with spoiled contents. Tsuta shuddered. The fridge probably needed to be burned though.

A yellow light filled the room after Tsuta turned the desk lamp on. Now where did Asaya keep her Bingo book? It was almost surprising she had one since he’d never seen her use it. Considering her job, she wasn’t allowed to leave the village except with explicit, special permission and never for combat purposes. A guide to dangerous criminals one might encounter in the wild was therefore entirely irrelevant to her line of work.

One of the bookshelves was filled with knickknacks, organizational boxes, a family of stuffed animals, and various other things besides books. While scanning the shelves, Tsuta’s eyes focused on a not unkitcky figurine of a carousel horse. Tsuta’s cousin and he had picked it out from an antique shop as a gift for some special occasion. Or something like that- he was too young at the time to remember.

The horse was pristine white with pastel pink, purple, yellow, and blue flowers decorating its mane and tail. Its porcelain legs were bent as if galloping freely without bridle or saddle while a spiraling golden rod affixed the figure to a base.

Tsuta took it off the shelf and turned it over to reveal the figurine was actually a music box. After twisting the metal key, he set it back on the shelf while it played a twenty second loop of some melody they never identified.

Three knocks on the front door were followed by a “Kagami-san? Are you home?”

It must be the landlady. Tsuta scrambled to open the door. “Hello, Ma’am.” He bowed politely. “I’m sorry, but Asaya isn’t here at the moment. Can I-”

“Then where is she? She up and disappeared weeks ago.” The middle-aged woman interrupted him.

“Sorry, she was called away very suddenly on mission. I don’t know when she’ll be back.” Tsuta answered respectfully.

With thin, purced lips and wrinkled eyebrows, she said “Well, her rent is due. If I don’t get it I’ll have to evict her at the end of the month.”

“Um…” Tsuta panicked. “Oh, I’m sure she left a check. That’s what I stopped by for, actually. To write- pay her check and stuff.”

The landlady raised a scrutinizing brow. It seemed strange that anyone would entrust a 14 year old boy with their rent checks, but generally speaking Asaya was a peculiar tenant. In any case, as long as she got her check, the landlady didn’t care.

Under scrutiny, Tsuta said, “I’ll be sure to give it to you before I leave. I just have to clean up inside.” He could forge her signature well enough; he just hoped that check wouldn’t bounce.

Thankfully, she seemed to buy it. “Very well,” she said. “Leave the check in the mailbox outside my office on the first floor.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I will. Sorry for the inconvenience!” He shouted as she walked away.

But anyway, the book. The actual book shelf was completely stuffed with literature, light novels, texts, manuscripts, and loose papers, forcing Tsuta to scrutinize every item. On the left end of the bottom shelf was a little brown book with no dust jacket or title.

 _Yes!_ He shouted inwardly at his success.

Immediately, he flipped through the pages.

 _Hoshigaki Kisame…one of the 7 swordsmen of the Hidden Mist_ (whatever that meant)… _attempted to overthrow the government… noted to have exceptional strength and stamina… primarily used water techniques…_ standard bad guy stuff. And he looked like a shark mutant. How cliché.

 _Uchiha Itachi_ … Tsuta was thrown off by the young face in the photograph. The boy looked the same age he was. _Massacared his entire clan at the age of 13..._ He could relate to the feeling sometimes, but damn. Fun times. Reading the dates, he realized that the man was actually just two years older than Asaya. A genjutsu user, too. No wonder Asaya was captured. The girl couldn’t counter a genjutsu any more than she could lick her own elbows.

Closing the book, he threw it on the table. It helped ease his anxiety, but overall he wasn’t any happier. There was still the question of this “Akatsuki” business. He could think of a few reasons a criminal organization would kidnap her: information, blackmail, her very particular set of skills. But which one? He’d have to go snooping around Grandpa’s office later.

The window rattled as if shaken by a strong wind. “Meow!”A rather fat black cat pawed at the window.

“There you are!” Tsuta exclaimed while opening the window. The cat had disappeared shortly before Asaya did. He’d assumed the cat finally died.

It brushed itself against his legs with its tail twitching excitedly. “Mow-w!”

“You look like you’ve been on quite the diet.” He reached down to pet the cat’s grimy fur. “You better not have fleas…”


	8. Snowflakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after chapter 7, but before 1 and 2

_“I don’t have to run faster than you- not if I have enough of a head start. I just have to run farther. I know I can do that.”_

* * *

 

_Crunch, crunch, crunch…_

Six inches of snow compressed under small, fleeting footfalls. Crisp, icy air scratched at flushed, red cheeks as steamy puffs of breath expelled through a dry, raw throat through pink, cracking lips.

 _Dammit…_ Golden brown eyes looked up at dark grey clouds blanketing the night sky. It was framed by thin, dead branches laced together like a deranged doily. Paper-like birch obscured perception in every direction, their indeterminate patterns an optical illusion. There were no beaten paths. Only vibrant, pristine snow perforated by a trail of footprints.

She wasn’t fast enough.

_Crunch, crunch, crunch…_

Asaya whipped her head over her shoulder just as a black kunai flew an inch in front of her nose.

 _...!!!_ There was no choice but to keep pressing forward. If she could just make it a bit farther then-

A sudden blow to her ribcage sent her flying to the right, smashing into a tree and falling to the ground. The snow’s crust softly shattered under her body and glassy shards pricked her face. Pulling an awkwardly bent arm out from underneath her, she struck the ground next to her head, frustrated.

_Crunch, crunch, crunch…_

Panting, she propped up onto her elbows. Two feet appeared buried under the snow in her peripheral vision. She heard a low gurgling sound from the direction she had been running.

“Apparently, you didn’t get enough of a lead.”

Her lip curled up and she narrowed her eyes at her fist. _1, 2, 3..._ She counted with breaths then yelled “Fuck off!” Asaya pounded the ground with her fist and a wall of earth erupted to push him back. She launched into a sprint.

“Please, please, please…” she chanted. Mouth gaping open, she desperately inhaled every sliver of frozen air.

A red bridge appeared in the distance, beckoning her like a neon sign. Like a divine offer of salvation. _Yes!_ Warm tears pearled in the corners of her eyes.

 _Witch!_ Itachi cursed her as he lay in the snow. He would have seen that attack a mile away- two even- if it hadn’t been for her damn chicanery. Although, _all’s fair in war_ , he supposed. Covering his eyes with a palm, they still stung. Not that his normal eyesight was that great anyway but at least it hadn’t been affected.

A cough erupted from deep in his lungs. _Dammit,_ he thought clutching his chest. It felt as if they were filling with gritty polystyrene. No matter, he would still close the distance like a thoroughbred.

Asaya reached the apex of the bridge and turned around to see Itachi halt in front of the threshold, obviously cautious of what she was planning. Sharp, black eyes met hers. She could see the determination in them- a fierce determination that belied the fatigue she knew he suffered. How many times had she looked away from them nervous and embarrassed? Who could say?  But this time- the last time- she would meet them.

Her face softened and her raw lips cracked as she sheepishly curled them up. She genuinely regretted how she had cursed him, but there were no rules in war.

The falling snow squelched all ambient sound except the gushing river.

Itachi knew better than to rush onto the bridge. If she ran straight to the other side, he’d catch her before she set foot back on soil. She obviously knew that, so she must be planning to destroy the bridge when he approached. Predictable.

His brow twitched as she unbuttoned her wool jacket and tossed it aside. Was she tired? Ironic, considering her bold statement about her superior stamina. Between his poor eyesight and the distance between them he couldn’t tell if he imagined it, but was she smiling…?

 Now that she was still, the snowflakes had time to alight upon her soft, loose hair. This vision…

Asaya lunged over the rail and plunged into the river.

The frigid, black current quickly pulled her down. If she could just stay there long enough the river could carry her far enough away to where he couldn’t follow. The water saturated her clothing and burned as it rushed over her skin. Only darkness greeted her squinting eyes. Desperation never led to ideal circumstances, she mused as her shoulders dug into the stony riverbed. At least she knew which way was down.

The oxygen in her lungs began to stale faster than anticipated. She pinched her nose and curled into a ball as tight as she could. A few bubbles escaped her as she again tumbled into the riverbed. The jagged rocks snagged a few strands of hair and ripped them off.

A hand suddenly grabbed her left wrist and jerked her arm away from her chest. She desperately tried to pull it back, clawing at the fingers around her joint. She would have chewed the appendage off like a fox in a trap.

Itachi’s arm encircled her waist and she flailed against him, splashing wildly as he pulled her to the surface and then the shore where he collapsed on top of her in the snowy bank.

The weight of his body trapped her like a lead net. Limp and defeated, she listened to him wheeze. His lips were so close to her ear they drowned out the sound of her own gasps. _Damn it_ … “Fucking damn it…!” She winced.

Itachi could feel her trembling beneath him. “You idiot!” He chastised her. “What were you trying to do? Kill yourself?!” His raspy, quavering voice betrayed him.

Asaya stared at her wet finger tips. They didn’t even tingle. _No,_ she thought, _but you are._

“Well?” He pressed his cheek into her balmy neck. He would have gotten up, but the heat of her body tethered him.

“Go to hell.” She whispered spitefully.

“Gladly,” He huffed into her ear. “I’m sure it’s much more pleasant than-”

She waited for him to finish the snide remark, but he didn’t. “What? Can’t think of anything stupid-”

He was limp, she realized. “Itachi-san?”

Like an inanimate ragdoll, he didn’t resist as she rolled him off of her and onto his back.

“Hey, say something.” She demanded, kneeling over him. “Hey!”

His eyes flickered open when she placed a hand on his chest and gently shook him. “St- Stop…” he muttered.

Under her small fingers, his heart beat weak and erratic.

She looked up the river bank, to the road that ran alongside it. Then back at the dying man beneath her.

Snow continued falling.

* * *

 

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

A middle-aged man shot up from his bed.

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

The noise came from the front door, a pounding so strong he swore the whole house shook. He thought he heard a cry, one not unlike an animal’s. He heard it again. A woman? He flung the sheets off and marched out of the bedroom and toward the front door, not bothering to put on slippers.

 _Bang! Bang-_ The door flung open.

At his feet, a young woman knelt on the doorstep with another figure propped up on her shoulder. She looked up at him like an injured dog. “Please, help-”

“Come in, quickly.” He unburdened her of the second figure and carried it inside. Immediately, he realized the form was limp as a ragdoll. The young woman closed the door behind them as he rushed the figure to the living room and laid him on the sofa by the fireplace. It was a young man, he realized. “Do you know how to start a fire?” He asked her.

She nodded.

“Then grab some wood from the shed out back. The matches are next to the fireplace.”

She was gone before he finished the sentence.

He returned his attention to the young man. His clothes were soaking wet and the tips of his long hair had frozen, like black icicles. Was he even breathing? The man placed two fingers to the young man’s throat to feel for a pulse. It took a while, and it was feint, but it was there. The man felt a brief relief before rushing to grab scissors from the kitchen and a blanket from the closet.

The young woman came back carrying two more logs then she could comfortably carry. Grabbing some old newspaper, she wadded them up and threw them in the fireplace with the logs. Her fumbling hands needed a few tries to strike a match, but she did succeed in lighting the fire.

“You’re not by chance a doctor, are you?” The man asked her. His voice was as gruff as the short, peppery hairs of his beard.

The young woman shook her head.

“Then that makes two of us. I’m no expert, but your boy here probably won’t last the night.” It was harsh but true. He watched her gaze shift to the young man. She was just as cold and wet as her companion, but only began shivering now.

“Look,” the man scratched the back of his head. “Young lady, if you don’t mind me askin’, what happened to the two of you?”

Taking a moment to respond, she bit the corner of her mouth gently before saying, “My brother and I were attacked while traveling-”

“I’m sorry but I can’t accept that.” He calmly interrupted. Siblings? They looked nothing alike. Travelers? Maybe, but no one travels at midnight, not in this weather.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t tell you.” 

At least that was honest. The man sighed deeply before saying, “Alright then, but can you at least tell me your names?”

“My name is Yukimura Tomoyo.” She spoke quietly. “And his is Hayashi Yuuto. Thank you for your generosity.” She bowed politely.

She was probably still lying, but the girl was obviously in an unfortunate situation. No matter, the man thought. He just needed a way to address them. “I’m Ishikawa Banri.” He introduced himself, giving a nod. “Sorry to meet you in these circumstances. I’ll put the kettle on.”

“I don’t mean to trouble you more than I already have.”

“Nonsense.” He dismissed her formality.

Banri walked to the kitchen and grabbed the steel kettle from a cupboard and filled it about a third. The gas stove clicked three times before catching. Grabbing two teacups from the cupboard, he wondered if he should call the authorities. They might be miscreants trying to rob him, but nearly dying of hypothermia was a big risk for a small reward. He opened two packets of black tea. The two were likely runaways- they looked like naive kids, as far as he could tell. Kids who made a mistake that spiraled out of their control. Either way, they probably had families looking for them.

Just before the kettle whistled, Banri took it off the burner and poured the hot water into the two cups. The water instantly stained a deep brown as the tea steeped. Upon further deliberation, the two must not be at home with their families for a reason. Scratching his beard, he didn’t know what to do.

He returned to the living room where the young woman- Yukimura- was still sitting next to her companion.

“How long have you known him?” Banri asked, handing her a cup of tea. Maybe it was none of his business, but he might as well ask anyway.

Asaya startled, not realizing the man had walked up to her. “Thank you, Ishikawa-san.” She gingerly took the teacup from him. “I’ve known him-” How long had it been, she wondered while wrapping her fingers firmly around the hot cylinder.

Tactfully, the man- Ishikawa- said, “You don’t have to say if-”

Shoulders slumping, she sighed, “Not that long, actually.” She closed her eyes, clearly drained. “I don’t actually know anymore, though.”

“I see.” Banri said, knowing that statement didn’t actually mean anything. “How do you know him, then?”

 _He and an anthropomorphic shark kidnapped me because their evil fraternity maybe wants to take over the world, or something?_ Asaya scrunched her eyebrows, trying unsuccessfully to articulate an answer. She thought of how he sometimes looked at her, red-eyed and detached, like she didn’t exist enough to be disapproved of. But, then there were moments when he would whisper gentle solaces. Honest or not, “I couldn’t say.”

“Look-”

“I know this looks bad, sir, but we aren’t trying to steal anything or running away from anyone. We won’t cause you any trouble.” She said, anticipating what the man really wanted to know. “We just-” she looked at Itachi, “He just needs shelter for now.”

Banri saw her fingers twitch as she gripped the teacup a bit tighter. What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

 

Itachi did not realize he was awake. All thought was drowned out by an ache so overwhelming it didn’t feel attached to his body. Time did not progress, air did not pass through his lungs, and words did not form in his mind. The pain and numbness were his sole state of existence.

A sudden crack bursting into his right ear pulled him to conciseness. He opened his eyes but the burning light seared them shut again. Clamping his eye lids, he waited a few moments before fluttering them open again. There was a wooden ceiling above him coated in a warm glow. A soft fabric blanketed his skin.

Itachi turned his head towards the light. Although truthfully, it fell more so than turned. A figure sat in profile huddled in front of a fireplace. The harsh contrast between the firelight and shadows prevented him from identifying the person. “Who are you?” He tried to say, but he barely even moved his tongue.

"-ou.” He eked out.

The figure instantly turned toward him.

“Hey,” She spoke softly, as if her voice might shatter him.

“You.” Hers was a familiar voice.

Itachi examined her, trying to remember. The vision before him- warm and golden in the firelight- did not match his memory of a woman whose skin glowed pearlescent and white. “Asaya.”

Images slowly filtered into back to him: the crunch of her footsteps as she ran, her flushed cheeks and tender lips, the snowflakes adorning her hair, and her determination. And his shock when she lunged over the rail and hit the water, and then another when he did too.

“You’re alive.” He breathed.

“You’re alive.” She repeated. There was a painful relief in her eyes, like circulation returning to a limb.

He tried to rise to meet her, but it was futile. He could barely move an arm let alone his whole body.

“Shhh…” She soothed him. Apprehensive and uncertain, she looked like a deer trying to decide if it was safe to cross a river. “Don’t move.”

The firelight flickered across her face and he was reminded that they were now inside somewhere. He couldn’t remember anything that happened after he jumped into the river. “How did we get here?” His voice was still quiet and weak, but the words were pronounced clearly.

Turning towards the fire, she bit her cheek. “The woodsman who lives here was kind enough to open his door.”

That didn’t really answer his question, but he could figure it out by context; she had carried him here. “How long have we been here?”

“A few hours, I think. The sun should be up soon.”

Itachi shook his head. The ordeal clearly had little to no effect on her- damn polar bear. “Why are you still here?”

She was silent and reticent, hoping he’d withdraw the question. But, he had no intention of doing so.

“You could be halfway to Iwa right now.”

Was he criticizing her? “You could be dead right now.” She retorted.

As if he didn’t know. If she had just let him freeze to death she would be free. Or if she had just left before he woke. But, here she was. Here she foolishly was.

The fire cracked and sparked. Orange and white embers burst from the fireplace, fizzling out just before they singed her cheek.

“And yet, I am not.” How many times had he been stifled by the ellipsis? How it made him feel pathetic and weak to not know what to say or do. To be ashamed because he was powerless to reconcile the conflict- _his_ conflict. He was sick of it.

That golden brown gaze pierced him through the corner of her eyes. This game was nothing new, but there were so few pieces now.

Itachi propped himself up by his elbow. It took every ounce of strength he had, but he did it.

“Stop.” She came and knelt beside him to prevent him from getting up. It didn’t take much, just a gentle hand on his shoulder and he was pinned. “Stop trying to kill yourself.” She gently chided him.

Itachi trapped her hand with one of his own. However, he was no longer a threat to her; she had rendered him declawed cat. Harmless black pools met her golden ones. _All is fair…_ he reminded himself.

 “Asaya, just go.”

Delicately, she brought her hand to his cheek. Asaya conceded to it now- finally allowed herself to. He was not commanding her; he was pleading.

“I’m sorry.” Asaya leaned down and brought her lips to his just long enough for him to return the kiss. Sweetly, earnestly.

The last thing Itachi remembered before he fell unconscious was her hand covering his eyes and a recognizable, searing pain.


	9. An Eye for an Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place right after chapter 8.

“ _An eye for an eye, Itachi-san. You took my weapon, now I’ve taken yours.”_

* * *

The Great Capitol of Earth country consumed the blazing orange sun as it sunk below the horizon. The illusory warmth of the tinted light shattered under the icy touch of the atmosphere.

The sight of the Capitol’s famous gateway should have been inviting. She should have sprinted towards it heady and relieved. Instead, the ornamental gateway and its bulwarks towered over her with all the soundness of a mirage. Was it truly there, or did she just wish it to be so? She thought again about the glowing sunset and how the season should have been summer.

After so many failed escape attempts this must be a joke. Asaya had been running for a few days at this point, alone and away from the towns and roads. And with no food because she was too afraid to light a fire to cook game and the winter forest offered no vegetation. She hadn’t the energy to be excited.

The sun completely disappeared below the horizon, and its warm glow quickly faded into a purple twilight. Asaya looked back at the way she came while dozens of people walked past her into the city. The night sky bled its blackness like ink on paper. She had better enter the city before they closed the gates.

Crossing under the threshold, she couldn’t buy into the idea that this was any sort of salvation. Bright, neon lights littered every inch of wall, loudly competing with each other for attention. She wanted to feel relieved, but the city was so unfamiliar and unwelcoming. Iwa, and the northwestern part of the country for that matter, were nothing like this. There was no economy of trendy consumer goods, fast fashion, “in” dining, or any other markers of economic prosperity great enough to produce pop culture. Well, at least not on this scale.

In Iwa, no shops played energetic pop music loud enough to be heard outside. No one wore bejeweled acrylic nails and neon eye shadow for fun on a Saturday night. Middle aged men did not carry polished leather briefcases on their rush home from work while periodically checking their conspicuously consumed watches. University students did not spend weekend nights drinking until they vomited- there was no university.

Iwa was a military city-state independent from yet dependent upon the country it was founded to protect. It was utilitarian before all else. Most of her and Tsuta’s favorite magazines and publications had to be special ordered and they would receive them a week after they hit stores in other cities. And here the latest editions were sitting on the racks in front of her, along with countless other options.

Sure, Earth country had a reputation for being old-fashioned and behind the times, but right now she felt closer to any of the foreign cities she had traveled through than her village.

The last light of sunset faded into the night. The contrast between a clear night sky and the buzzing neon lights made the city streets even more affrontingly ostentatious: jetting out from the walls, cramping the space between high rises, and bleaching out the stars. It was unsettling to see everything at once but nothing clearly.

The clock in the storefront next to her read 6:30 pm. Well, 6:27, but Asaya always rounded to the next number divisible by 5. Perfect. Not only did she not know where any government buildings were but this late on a weekend they were probably closed.

Asaya came by a koban and decided to ask for help. “Um, hello, sir.” She demurely addressed the police officer at the desk.

“Hello, Miss. How can I help you?” The officer was a clean-shaven man of about 35 years.

“I was wondering where the Iwagakure Embassy was. Or the Department of the Military.” She noticed the officer was wearing both a full formal uniform and a security vest. The pristine white gloves and neon yellow vest was an odd combination for an officer at a regular civilian koban, even if it wasn’t that far from the city gates.

The officer scrutinized her, raising a brow. Presumably at her shabby appearance. “They are both located on the other side of the city, Miss.” He said. “What business do you have with them?”

_None of yours,_ she thought automatically. Yes, she probably looked like a tramp, a vagabond, or a drifter. Yes, she was a short, unimpressive looking young woman with the face of a baby doll. But- _whatever_.

She hadn’t an ID or other documentation to show the man, not even a hitai-ate. Maybe she could walk up a wall or across water but that would just cause more problems.

“Well,” she hastily thought of a lie. “I was going to meet my cousin there after work because she just started a new job and…” Ugh, so stupid.

“They wouldn’t be open today, Miss. All non-essential government offices are closed for the parade tonight.”

“The parade…?” She was confused. New years was weeks ago.

The officer tried to remain professional, but he couldn’t quite hide his disbelief when she didn’t know what he was talking about. “The parade celebrating the birth of the Emperor’s first son? It will be starting soon.”

“Oh, I see.” That explained his unusual uniform combination. “Well, could I just get a map the city, please? I’m from out of town.”

“Yes, miss. Here you are.” The officer pulled a pamphlet from a rack and handed it to her. “Is there anything else I could help you with?”

“No, thank you, sir.” She said and walked out the door.

Great. Fucking great. Her most obvious choices for help weren’t available. Whatever. Might as well head toward them anyway while she thought of new plans.

* * *

The city glowed like a thousand birthday candles in a dark room.

“You’re sure she’ll be here?” An incredulous Kisame grumbled.

“Yes.” Itachi replied. “The Capitol is the easier location to reach, even though it’s the farther distance.”

“And the opposite direction.” Kisame added.

Itachi said nothing in response, but kept walking toward the city. He could argue with Kisame about why he chose to pursue Asaya towards the Capitol instead of Iwa like Sasori and Deidara, but he was not in the mood to condone his partner’s ornery behavior. It was childish.

* * *

 

“Majong!”

“Ugh.” Three resentful nin said in union.

“Dammit, Tetsuya-san!” One of them said. “One of these days I’ll figure out how you always win when it matters.”

“Luck is my only real skill in life.” Tetsuya said with a satisfied smile.

None of his colleagues seemed amused.

“Alright, alright, I promise not to win next time.”

The other three men rolled their eyes while picking up tiles. One of them gave Tetsuya a pat on the shoulder and said, “Well, enjoy your night off, kid. Try and enjoy some of the festivities for the rest of us.”

“Mission accepted, sir!” Tetsuya raised a hand in a small, mock salute.

* * *

 

_Bang!_

Asaya slammed the heavy brass knocker on the door of the Iwa Embassy. “Hello! Is anyone there?” She shouted into the crack in the doorframe.

Silence.

Asaya pressed her forehead into the door and slumped to her knees in defeat. _Stupid imperial family,_ she thought. Taking a deep breath, she then released it as a long, low groan.

She had climbed mountains, crossed oceans, and walked countless miles in all kinds of weather, but this… this was just upsetting.

What options did she have now? She turned to look in the direction of the Imperial Palace. There was only one exception to the laws explicitly banning active duty nin within the Capitol: the imperial guards of the Emperor, his family, and his estate.

But what could she do about it? Stroll on up to the gates of the Imperial City and say, “Hey, I have no proof of identity, but I’m an Iwa nin too, so could you guys just let me speak to the captain of the guard on good faith? I swear I’m not trying to assassinate the Emperor.”

Standing up, she dusted off her knees and turned towards the palace. It was so much brighter than the dim, deserted district she was in now. On second thought, interrogation and confinement in a jail cell was probably safer than being out here. Besides, they’d eventually figure out who she was in a background check or something, right?

She hurried towards the parade.

* * *

“So how do you suggest we find her in this commotion, Itachi-san? Ask every stranger if they’ve seen a cow recently?”

What an intentionally asinine thing to say. “If you would like, you are more than welcome to.”

Kisame did not respond.

“The first place she’d seek out is the safety of other Iwa nin.” Itachi elaborated. “In this case, that would be Iwa’s embassy, or whatever they have as an official institution. Earth country does not allow an active military presence within its capitol city, unlike other countries.”

“I know that.” Said Kisame. “But what if she already got there?”

Itachi kept walking down the main street of the city, where the parade had already begun.

* * *

 

Asaya slowed from a jog to a walk when she arrived at the crowded main street. She could see the gates to the Imperial City just up ahead. This was such a stupid idea… She was going to cause a huge scene, the Imperial Family was going to get mad at Iwa for her misconduct, then a bunch of people who outranked her were going to give her talkings-to about her behavior regardless of the circumstances just to feel self-important and… _Ugh_. Bureaucracy.

As she walked, she examined the clothing of her fellow countrymen. Many of these styles were nearly alien to her. Perhaps then, hers would have been to them. The civilians wore a variety of attire from semi-casual to semi-formal, but they were all dressed nice enough for a special occasion. Some people, particularly women and children, wore more traditional garb. Why not take advantage of an opportunity to dress up? It looked fun.

Little kids waived sparklers around and chased each other while wearing cartoonish masks. Others watched the dancers, musicians, and displays marching down Main Street. Parents of small children held them up and pointed out notable things so that they might entertain themselves. Groups chatted about things Asaya couldn’t hear. Many purchased delicious–looking street food from vendors, making her stomach turn in frustration. Some young people dared to hold hands.

No, it couldn’t be…? Asaya froze at the sight of the unforgettable black and red. _Damn it!_ She thought they would have chased her towards Iwa, not here.

Her eyes momentarily locked with the familiar black ones. She panicked as they turned red and she unapologetically shoved the person next to her out of the way as she turned to flee towards the Imperial City.

* * *

 

Itachi saw her. His vision may not be that great but he knew it was her by her chakra, even from the corner of his eye. He furtively kept his head down and made no indication he’d noticed anything.

Kisame inhaled sharply through his nose, tantalized. “Prey.”

* * *

 

Fresh from his victory, Tetsuya walked through the festivities. Not that he had much to do other than just enjoy being there, but that was more than enough. It was an exciting break from the everyday norm of standing stiffly behind the imperial family while they tediously discussed taxes, policy, diplomacy, or what they thought about breakfast.

Tetsuya stopped at a corner and looked up at a huge, old clock on the façade of a historic building. The fireworks were about to start.

“Oof!” Something slammed into his back.

“I’m so sorry!” A young woman exclaimed.

“Not at all-” Tetsuya turned around. “Asaya-chan?!”

They stared at each other, shocked and bewildered.

“Tets-” She choked, then shook her head. “I need to run. Now.”

Tetsuya looked behind her to see two black-clad figures quickly approaching. “Down the next alley on the left. Then to the top of the Blue-roofed building and straight towards the Imperial City gates.” He pushed Asaya in front of him. “Go!”

They dashed through the crowd, into the alleyway, scaled the five-story building, and ran across the blue tiled roof. When they reached the far ledge, an audible gasp came from the crowd below. Kisame had leapt onto the roof behind them, completely disregarding any sense of discretion.

“Keep running!” Tetsuya yelled. They leapt to the next roof, but Kisame closed half the distance between them with a massive swing of his sword. Its impact with the roof reverberated under their feet.

Tetsuya stopped and turned back. “I’ll stop him. Keep running.” He commanded.

“There’s another one. Maybe more.” Asaya responded. “You can’t take them.”

Itachi appeared at the far end of the roof, red eyes ablaze.

Tetsuya stepped in front of Asaya, blocking her from view. “Which one can you outrun?” He asked. She was clearly in no condition to fight.

It took a moment for Asaya to process what he meant. She reached out her hand and placed it on his arm. “Look, Tets-”

“Which one?” He pressed, calmly but forcefully.

Small fingers tightened nervously around his arm. The real choice was between two poisons. “The farther one.”

As soon as she finished the sentence, Tetsuya lunged at the sword-wielding shark man.

* * *

 

The new figure blocked Asaya from Itachi’s view- his tall, lean frame hiding her like a pearl. Itachi was not sure who this man was, but instinct told him that he wasn’t nobody.

Asaya’s small hand placed itself on his arm, like it was pleading. A second later, the man lunged at Kisame and she leapt to the next roof.

Itachi ran after her.

* * *

 

A screech pierced through the air as rockets flew into the sky and exploded into a dazzling firework display. The entrance to the palace was so close, but could she run fast enough? The ceramic tiles shattered under Asaya’s feet. Her calves were disintegrating, her lungs collapsing. But it was right there…

Drums, music, singing, and all manner of noises were squelched by an arm encircling her waist, like a lasso around a horse’s neck.

“No! Get off me!” With no other option, she thrashed wildly against him, managing to break free save for a hand around her wrist.

“I’m not here to hurt you!” Itachi’s familiar voice yelled at her.

She looked at him like a wild animal in a trap- desperate, violent, waiting for the right moment to strike or flee. _Liar_! Her eyes exclaimed.

Itachi addressed her earnestly. “Asaya…” Another firework ruptured overhead. Reaching into his pocket, he pressed an object into her hand with a soft rattle. A string of small, spherical beads entwined itself around her fingers, finally reunited with its owner.

 “‘An eye for an eye,’ remember?” He let go of her wrist.

Voiceless, she whispered inaudibly…

Sparks of white, gold, red, and all manner of scintillating colors ephemerally burst above them, twinkling brilliantly against the clear night sky before crackling and fading into nothing as they fell. As if the stars were sublimely dying all around them.

* * *

 

Asaya ran her fingers through her wet hair. Her whole body felt so _clean_. The last time she had a shower was… some time ago. Luckily, they had let her take a shower and given her a fresh change of clothes. Just a spare t-shirt and sweatpants, but they were soft and comfortable.

Right now, she sat in the break room waiting to speak with the captain of the imperial guard- which was just a fancy way of referring to the guy in charge of all the Iwa nin stationed here. The AC unit softly whirred while one fluorescent light in the back corner of the room blinked every other minute or two. This was a surprisingly modern room for being located in the Imperial City. She’d thought they would have matched the interior design with the traditional architecture, but no. This was utilitarian.

“So, how did you get away?” Tetsuya felt compelled to break the silence. The question felt dumb as soon as he asked it, but it was too late now.

“Luck.” She answered. “It’s the only thing I’m good at.” He could’ve had her if he’d truly wanted it. She had been exhausted and unable to put up a real fight- not that he wasn’t stronger than her anyway. And he was no longer handicapped without his sharingan- a decision she didn’t regret now but certainly did in the moment.

Massaging the string of beads between her fingers, she meditated on how they had been severed from her for so long their weight now felt surreally heavy around her wrist. Or not heavy, but _noticeable_. It wasn’t what she remembered, but did she really remember it? She had kept them on her person almost continuously for years, ever since she was first granted them. It was strange how she didn’t even realize she had forgotten their sensation when she had once become so familiar with them she didn’t feel them at all. How they were a part of her yet she had adjusted to them being gone so quickly.

Yet, having them back did, in some way, keep her grounded.

 “ _Just go.”_ Asaya remembered. That night left her nothing but dazed, conflicted, and embarrassed. Maybe even a little ashamed. Ultimately, though, she’d never see him again.

In any case, she had made it to safety. She had succeeded. She would be back in Iwa soon. And she’d never know the answer.

Asaya looked visibly uncomfortable. Tetsuya should have realized she had been through a lot she probably wouldn’t want to talk about. And regardless, she may not be all that excited to see him.

“Would you like some tea?” He walked over to the cabinets and pulled out two mugs.

“Please, don’t bother.” She urged him. It felt too awkward to accept his kindness. Kindness he really shouldn’t bestow her. Kindness she didn’t deserve.

“Nonsense,” he said while ripping two bags of bergamot tea open. “It’s the least I can do. And besides, it will take some time for my captain to get here, so…” he trailed off. He would have mentioned something about how she looked tired, but she probably would have taken offence to it. Or maybe not offence, she wouldn’t get angry, just… self-conscious.

He dispensed some hot water from the coffee machine into the mugs and brought one to her. “I know it’s not what you like, but it’s the best I’ve got at the moment.

Asaya hesitated before accepting his hospitality. Couldn’t he just stop being a genuinely good person? “I like all tea.” She reassured him. Bobbing the teabag a few times, she stared at the tag which read “Bergamot.” _Great._

“That’s not true…” He said casually.

“I’m not a snob.” She whispered.

“I’m not insinuating that. I just know you don’t actually like everything all the time.”

He was too damn attentive. Asaya tried to take a sip to spite him, but the hot liquid scalded her lip, causing her to wince.

“See?”

“It’s just- never mind.” She conceded.

Asaya put the mug on the table with a small tap. The AC whirred heavily in the silence.

“In any case, you know,” Tetsuya cautiously began, “Everyone will be relieved to know you’re alive.”

How was she supposed to respond to that? “I’m excited to see everyone again, too.” Who exactly were “they,” anyway?

That smile. Tetsuya recognized that sickeningly pleasant smile she gave whenever obliged. He sighed.  Sitting adjacent to her now, he wondered if instead he should have sat two feet farther to the right.

“Well, at least Tsuta will be happy. My aunt said he wasn’t getting on too well.” Tsuta, sure.

“Yeah,” Again, how should one respond to statements like that? She had been worried about him, but that seemed like such an awkward thing to express in words. She picked up the mug to take another sip, but it still felt too hot. “I mean, she always says that. And he’s tougher than you think, so…” She left the statement open ended.

“I know, but- I mean, I don’t think it’s easy on anybody.”

“Yeah.” Asaya vaguely replied, intimately staring at her fidgeting fingers. A part of her did want to talk to him and another part really didn’t, but none of her knew what to say.

Tetsuya brought his mug to his lips only to realize that the tea was, in fact, too hot. He fumbled, almost spilling its contents. “Damn, you weren’t kidding.”

Asaya smirked. “’ _See_?’” She softly mocked him. “That’s what you get for not believing me.”

“Mm-hm.” Tetsuya bit his tongue in pain. “I’ll remember that next time you offer me hot chocolate while smirking apropos of nothing.”

“Look, that was _one_ time! I put a little cayenne pepper in hot chocolate _one_ time and-”

“’A little?’” He interjected in playful accusation.

“Yes. It was delicious.” She said, not quite restraining a grin.

“You put so much cayenne pepper in mine I thought I was going to cough up a lung.”He protested.

“Deliciously hilarious, then.  And besides-”

“I’m so glad my suffering amuses you.” It was nice to finally see her lighten up.

“Whatever, you thought it was funny, too. Or at least you think it is now, so…”

“…Shut up.”

The mug between her hands now felt at a temperature suitable for drinking- hot, but not scalding. She smugly drank the bergamot tea.

All expression quickly drained from her face.

“Is it to your liking?” Tetsuya asked with a raised eyebrow.

Asaya gingerly placed the mug back on the table and paused before sweetly asking, “Coffee?”


	10. The Mute I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place shortly before chapter 8, Snowflakes.

A little girl sat at the top of a staircase squeezing her face through the handrail with both tiny hands curled around the white bars. Although small, she could not fit her whole head through, so the wooden bars pinched her cheekbones as she pressed into them.

The front door screeched open and slammed shut as a man and a boy entered.

“Welcome home!” shouted a feminine voice from the kitchen. A woman in her mid-thirties walked hurriedly down the hall while wringing her hands on a yellow and pink floral apron. “Did you catch anything?” She asked, smiling.

The man threw a metal contraption on the entryway table, where it wrinkled and table runner and dented the wood. The heavy sound echoed through the hall.

 “Not a thing.” He said.

The smile on the woman’s face disappeared. She clasped her hands together and dropped her shoulders.

“Damn thing chewed its own foot off.” The man growled and held up a white, blood-stained paw. A jagged piece of bone stuck out of one end and the mangled toes dangled limply at the other. He threw it on the table with the metal trap.

The woman’s lips curled down in disgust. The boy made no expression, but his eyes widened just a bit.

The man kicked off his snow-crusted boots and dropped his thick winter coat on the floor. He stomped down the hallway yelling, “Fucking thing’s still gonna die! Might as well’ve let us skin it.”

The woman stood ridged until his footsteps disappeared. Then, she turned to the boy and ordered in a hushed tone, “Get rid of that thing, will you?”

The boy nodded and quickly grabbed both the trap and paw and exited through the front door. It opened and closed almost soundlessly.

Placing a hand on her hip and scratching the back of her head with another, the woman sighed in frustration and disappointment. She knelt down to arrange the boots in their proper place next to the door and picked up the heavy coat to hang it on the wooden rack. Turning around to leave, the woman saw the little girl at the top of the stairs, her little hands still gripping the bars.

 “What do you think you’re doing?” The woman snapped. “I’ve told you, you’ll break the railing!”

The little girl lurched back and scrambled away.

* * *

 

The crickets didn’t chirp anymore, nor did the moths or mosquitoes fly around him or the campfire. They were too far north and in the wrong season for insects to trouble anyone. However, just last week they were much farther south, near the ocean where winter was only ever a mild spring. Where there were always pesky insects trying to drink your blood, or contaminate your food, or suicidally fly into your fire.

Although, at least it had been warm.

Here- wherever it was exactly Itachi had forgotten- the tradeoff for a lack of pests was that the temperatures hovered just below the freezing point. And soon they would be at an even higher altitude, where ice and snow were the norm.

Across from him, Kisame occasionally groaned while he slept propped up against a tree the same as he did every night. Even if the climate did bother him he wouldn’t show it. And Asaya, well, she would shiver and huff but she certainly had no problems falling asleep.

The campfire was small and fading, the wood mostly inert carbon at this point. Itachi could barely feel the heat and debated throwing another log on top. Personal policy dictated he never let a fire burn longer than it needed to. The light was too noticeable to anyone nearby. Not that he couldn’t deal with conflict; he simply had no desire to. But at the same time, did he really want to shiver all night if he didn’t have to?

Itachi coughed. He had been constantly on the move for how many years now? A decade, almost? He should be used to the radical changes in climate that came with traveling long distances in short amounts of time. But, it was just too easy to acclimate to the warmth. It was just too enticing, too familiar, even. He just couldn’t control it.

From the corner of his eye, Asaya reeled up suddenly. Disoriented, she rubbed her eyes and looked around while taking a few labored breaths before turning away from the fire and bringing her knees to her chest. She then buried her head in one arm but left the other to stick out. Oddly still, she stayed that way for a few minutes.

The ivory hand floated in front of her, as if detached from the rest of her body. Her fingers dangled limply in the shadows and the patchy moonlight shining through dead branches made her joints look unnaturally configured. It hung there for a while before she abruptly flexed it in and out of a fist a few times, willing it back to life.

She lifted her head from her knees and sighed, looking up at the impeccably clear sky. “You know, I thought I had a pretty good setup before this whole thing happened.”

Itachi said nothing, but turned his head inquisitively at her statement.

“I mean, things weren’t perfect, but I had most of the things I wanted.” She thought she was elaborating.

Itachi blinked. “I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say.” The past was always better than an unpleasant present. So what?

“Oh, I just-” She paused and tried to gather her thoughts. “What I mean to say is that I had a pretty safe and stable lifestyle before I ended up,” she gestured nebulously, “in this situation.” She fidgeted with her sleeves when he did not seem enlightened. “I just never thought something this _exciting_ would ever happen to me, is all.”

“I see.” He said. The statement was only slightly more specific. Nonetheless, he responded, “I understand the nations are at peace right now, but I cannot imagine why you would describe this lifestyle as ‘safe’ and ‘stable’ or anything other than ‘risky and ‘dangerous.’” What was “safe” about being what they were?

“Well, if you are on active duty or regularly sent on mission, sure. This is a dangerous career, if you will, war or no.

“But I was lucky; very early on I got a position where I was never meant to see much combat, if any. I had a career path that would allow me to live quietly within the village’s walls and still receive all the benefits of being a nin: guaranteed employment with good enough pay, a retirement pension, good rates on loans, subsidized housing options, other special services, etcetera. And all without having to risk my life. It was great.” She sighed. “And then you- this- happened. No offence.”

“None taken.” He said, wondering what had incited this sentimental confession. “I guess you underestimated how much risk you were assuming.” He saw her smile slightly at his wry joke. But Itachi was curious; “If you wanted a peaceful, stable life, why not just be a civilian?”

“Ah, good question.” She remarked. “Let me ask you first: you were born into a clan, right? You’ve never lived as a civilian?”

“Correct.” He answered with a nod.

“And even if you had been, you were born a man in a city with lots of economic opportunities outside of the village system?”

Itachi realized where she was going with this. “I thought you said your family was a clan, too?”

“I lied.” She shrugged. “People look down on you if you weren’t born into it, so you get used to lying.”

Raising an eyebrow, he couldn’t quite believe it. A hawk from a kite, it seemed. “Then…?”

“A farm somewhere in the northwestern valleys of Earth country.” She rested her head tilted in the palm of her hand. “I may not like the bureaucracy, ethically questionable practices, systemic corruption, and whatnot, but I like it better than I’d like being the helpless wife of an angry alcoholic.” She said quietly with eyes unfocused on the trees.

Bringing a finger over her lips, she then whispered with a trusting smile, “I’ve lived in Iwa since I was little, but my life before that isn’t something I’m fond of, so keep this a secret for me, please.”

“I see.” Itachi hadn’t thought of it that way before. That there were people for whom the village system, corrupt as it was, could offer a better life. He had assumed that civilian life was always better if only because it was more peaceful. People who came from outside the village to become ninja were unusual, but it wasn’t unheard of. The most common scenario was that children deemed fit by the village could be drafted for service. It was a practice usually done after a war to recover numbers more than anything else. She was the right age for that to have been the case.

Itachi had met people who came from outside the village before, but he had always assumed they were victims of the propaganda which romanticized ninja life. That their families mistakenly thought it would bring them honor and glory to serve their country. That they fallaciously bought into some higher purpose just to have their child discarded on the front lines of the next war. Sure, economic disparity and political corruption existed elsewhere, but the greater evil was the village system and its inherent hypocrisy of calling itself a “peacekeeper” while also needing to make sure there was always a threat from which the country needed to be protected. It was nothing but a malignant cycle.

But, as he saw in the case of this individual, the grass did not prove greener. Itachi wondered exactly what conditions could have led a child to realize they were escaping a terrible fate more than anything else. Maybe it was better to be a pawn in a political scheme than a victim of societal and economic constraint. At least, that was her experience.

“What about you?” She asked candidly, and then added quickly, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

The question caught him off guard. “What about me?”

“I mean, why are you a criminal? You’re good at what you do, so you probably had a really good life ahead of you. Why leave your village just to do essentially the same things as a criminal?”

The quizzical look on her face, the tilt of her head- did she genuinely not know? Thinking back, she had never indicated she knew anything about his past, other than the obvious fact he was ex-Konoha.

Suddenly, Itachi was not so resolved. He had thought he had become immune to the judgment and shame attached to his name- his infamy. That his past sins no longer affected him. That he had reconciled with and accepted the consequences of his choice. Yet now, in front of this girl- this woman- who was ingenuously kind to him, he faltered.

Asaya watched the skin of Itachi’s face wrinkle uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“‘Essentially the same thing’ were your words, correct?” He said slowly.

“Yeah.”

“Then you are just as aware of the short-sighted, self-serving, hypocritical extremes justified by the rhetorical pretense of ‘us versus them.’”  He said.

After blinking a few times with a slightly open mouth, Asaya sighed. She brought her hand to her mouth like she were going to bite a nail but didn’t. She looked conflicted, almost frustrated. “Could I say something you might find offensive?” She finally said to him.

“Sure.” He said. She couldn’t possibly.

“I can’t decide if you are intentionally using vague language to obfuscate something more specific, or if you simply had a puerile, black-and-white worldview that was shattered too abruptly.” Her voice softened and diminished as she finished the sentence.

How incredibly shrewd in one way, but not at all in another, Itachi thought. She was too good for the forces which she fell mercy to. Too astute. Too considerate.

“Do you think me incapable of understanding the world with any complexity?” He asked her.

“No.”

“Then you have your answer.” He whispered to her, as if he was trusting her with a horrible secret.

The last of the fire sparked small, but bright.


	11. The Night We Met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This would chronologically be the first chapter. You know, if I had written this in order.

A crisp breeze scattered the last of autumn’s leaves across dry, yellow, dormant grass while Itachi pulled a wrinkled manila folder from his coat. He opened it to find it contained only two pieces of paper. The first was a standard 8.5” by 11” paper found in any office. It was a grainy, black-and-white photocopy of a ninja’s identification form that was just as creased and wrinkled as the folder. The image was photocopied noticeably off-center and some lines of text had been redacted with a black marker. Holding it up to the sun as a back light, most of the redacted information could be seen anyway, like the individual’s official citizenship and registration numbers, 18.36.56.33635 and 38.47.01.2802, respectively. It was shoddy work.

Still, it was nice that someone had done their research for him. Normally all he got was a name, a general description, and perhaps a vague notion of where to find them. The second piece of paper was a typed note with instructions to kidnap the individual at the provided date, time, and location. A pretty specific location, too; “The bonsho on the eastern ridge of Rengeoin Temple,” it read. What luck. Someone really had done their research.

“So, what’s our next assignment?” Kisame asked him.

“We are going to Earth country to detain an Iwa kunoichi until further notice.” Itachi said.

“Is she in Iwa? I don’t want to have to infiltrate a village.”

“No, she will be at Rengeoin Temple in a fortnight. Quite a distance from Iwa and close to the northeastern border.”

“Ah, that’s good.” Kisame said relieved. “Who is this kunoichi?”

Itachi perused the first paper. It was a young woman- a girl, almost. He stared at the weird kanji of her name. The surname was straightforward enough, “Kagami,” but her given name was a different story. How was that supposed to be pronounced? It made no sense as a name. He thought for a while before deciding it must be “Tomoyo.” That spelling was just a pretentious way of naming a kid “Tomoyo.”

“A Kagami Tomoyo, it appears. A jonin. Supposedly a mid-range fighter with excellent chakra control.” Other than that the document didn’t actually say that much about her. It was pretty sparsely detailed regardless of the useless redactions.

“Ah.” was all Kisame said. It made no difference to him. There weren’t many who could give him a real fight.

Itachi tucked the papers back into his coat. Earth country was a pain in the ass to traverse. But the relative isolation of the mountains did make staying undetected easier than in most other places. It was a double-edged sword. But no matter, a mission was a mission.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sitting alone in a far row of a formal event at Rengeoin Temple, Asaya had to resist the urge to pick at a stray thread on the seam of her cerulean kimono. She would unravel the whole thing out of sheer boredom if she started. Running her tongue over her teeth, she resented being sent to this event event in the first place. She never left the village. Ever. She was specifically labeled as undispachable since two years ago when she was officially appointed her apprenticeship. Although technically this was a diplomatic visit, not a mission, she supposed. Still, she definitely did not want to be here right now. She certainly didn’t ask to sit through boring, long-winded speeches at dumb events with the purpose of promoting “goodwill” between Iwa and the people of Earth country’s many territories.

This was definitely a scheme cooked up by the Tsuchikage and his family. Asaya squinted, annoyed at the little manipulations they constantly threw at her. This wasn’t a straightforward, yakuza-style threat where she had to worry about someone setting her apartment on fire or breaking her kneecaps. This was the dirty, underhanded, social pressure tactics employed by politicians and rich people. Of which the Tsuchikage’s family was not uncoincidentally both.

Applause erupted through the room as the mayor of the local city finished his speech with a generic statement of gratitude for the “prosperous” relationship the region shared with the monks of Rengeoin Temple, the ninja of Iwagakure, and the Empire of Earth Country. Asaya clapped her hands with everyone else, patting the fingers of one hand into the palm of the other. The white beads wrapped around her left wrist jostled and clinked, but even though they were only a foot or so from her ears their sound was squelched by the din.

Ostensibly, she was there to stand in for her master, Mistress Fukurou, who was the most senior member of Iwa’s Grand Council. “Senior” in both in time served and in age. Lady Fukurou was probably the oldest person in the history of the country. She was so old they didn’t even have records of her birth. So old she could not travel these distances herself. Which may be true, but Onoki could have sent someone else if had wanted to. He only sent her because he was giving her an “opportunity” in exchange for indebting her to his family. The bastard was playing for the long term. She was almost surprised one of his dozen or so bachelor grandsons wasn’t personally escorting her.

Uggh… Honestly, she wanted nothing to do with this tangled web, but she was already caught. The real struggle was not getting tangled further. She tapped her fingers on her knee while looking again at the itinerary pamphlet. Just another hour or two of these talking heads.

* * *

 

After the talking heads had finished, the event moved to another hall, where the attendees went about chatting and socializing with one another, mixing and mingling in small groups. Under the high, wooden ceiling, Asaya felt small and adrift in a sea of people. She was pretty crap at socializing anyway, but these people were out of her league. Everyone here was some sort of bureaucrat, official, politician, or wife thereof. And occasionally a monk or nin like her. Maybe being a kunoichi was novel to these people but ultimately she had no rank with which to meet approval. An apprentice was an apprentice, not a master. She was a token interest, at best. Yet there were only so many times one could walk around the room before it felt weird not to be conversing with someone. She sighed. Maybe she just had to suck it up and deal. Diplomacy was her mission, after all.

“Kagami-san,” a voice addressed her from behind.

She turned to see the speaker was Sanmyaku Isamu, her captain and the Tsuchikage’s second son. They and two others were the only people from Iwa at the event. “Yes, sir.” She addressed him.  

“You seem rather diffident this evening.” He stated bluntly.

Embarrassed, Asaya said “Oh, no, sir.” This was the real challenge; appearing happy and positive because you’ll ruin the mood and leave a bad impression otherwise. “It’s just, well-” She couldn’t think of an excuse. “This is all so exciting and new it’s overwhelming.”

Isamu raised a stiff brow. “Kagami-san,”

Uh-oh, she could tell by the stiff twitch of his jaw that she was about to be chastised.

But instead he clasped his hands behind his back and said softly, “If you would like, you may leave for a bit.” Well, softly for a burly man in his fifties. His words sounded more flat than empathetic.

Asaya’s mouth involuntarily slackened a bit.

“I understand that engagements like this are not your strong suit.” He said.

Ouch. “My apologies, sir, I didn’t mean to be a-”

He raised a hand to quiet her. “It’s alright.” He furtively glanced around before discreetly saying to her, “These people are all a bit snobbish, don’t you think? They don’t notice you now, so they won’t notice if you leave.”

Not that Sanmyaku was a man known for being tactful, but Asaya honestly couldn’t tell if he was trying to be nice to her, or trying to be nice about expressing disappointment, or what. The signals were too conflicting.

“If you exit through the door over there,” he gestured over her left shoulder, “there is a pathway that leads to a bonsho that overlooks the next mountain. It’s a bit of a hike but it has wonderful views of the sunset. Why don’t you go watch and just come back after sundown for the closing ceremony?”

Either way, he was definitely asking her to leave. “Yes, sir.” Then she awkwardly added, “Thank you.” before turning to leave the way he suggested.

Isamu responded with a hesitant, unusual “Your welcome.” as she walked away.

* * *

 

Behind a large, grey boulder Itachi and Kisame hid themselves while they waited for their target to appear. The sky over the ridge was a flat, solid, orange disk that cast long shadows down the side of the mountain where they lay in wait. The landscape itself was pretty barren, but the shadows from this position downhill made for good cover.

“So you’re sure she’ll be here?” Kisame said, restless. They had been there for an hour at this point. “Seems a bit too easy, if you ask me.”

“‘Sundown at the bonsho at the end of the eastern mountain ridge.’ That is what our orders said.” Itachi exhaled and looked up the mountain ridge at the bonsho. “If she doesn’t show then we will find her the usual way.” It wouldn’t be the first time they were given a false lead.

Another few minutes ticked by as they waited, until a black silhouette appeared jogging across the top of the ridge towards the bell. The distance and sunset shadows made it impossible to see the figure in detail but it had to be their target.

“Kisame, look.” Itachi said.

The shark raised a hand over his eyes and looked in the direction his partner was. “Well, well. It appears that our orders were correct. This is too easy.”

“Approach from the stairway over there.” Itachi instructed. “I’ll approach from behind.”

“Alright, then.” Kisame stood up and slung his sword over his back.

* * *

 

 _Damn,_ getting out here really was a hike. This had to be about 3 kilometers from the temple. Considering the time it took her to get out here, she’d just have to turn back around in a few minutes. Her footsteps made a distinct, hollow banging noise as she took quick steps up the three stairs of the wooden structure in which the bonsho was housed. Some of the planks creaked under her weight as she approached the bronze bell. It was clear by the small chips of red paint, splintered and warping floorboards, and tiny rocks littering the floor that this bonsho had declined in popularity. It was unusually far from its temple, after all. So far that Asaya wondered for what purpose it had originally been built.

Reaching behind her head, she unclipped the silver barrette that pinned her hair into a twisted bun and massaged her fingers through her scalp. Her hair had been pinned up so tight for so long that the roots felt numb and tingly, like a limb that had fallen asleep. Her barrette was engraved with Iwa’s symbol and she used it to mark her status as a kunoichi in place of a hitai-ate, which were just obnoxious and gaudy. This was much more discreet, elegant, and even functional as far as she was concerned. She stuffed it into her periwinkle obi for the time being and let her long, soft brown hair rest freely down her shoulders.

Walking around the bell, she looked at its ornamentation. The casted inscriptions and images were speckled with mint green and blue oxidation. Unfortunately, she could not read the written history as the inscriptions were too corroded. From what she could tell by the images, however, the narrative seemed to be something about the bodhisattva Kannon protecting travelers from disasters and outlaws in the mountains. Appropriate, considering this was an Earth country temple dedicated to Kannon.

Asaya delicately ran a hand across the cold metal, which felt slightly grainy against her bare fingertips. Outstretched, the cerulean sleeve of her kimono caught the twilight. Its red light cascaded over the canvas of silk and stained it deep, variegated hues of purple.

She felt conflicted between the relief of not having to be at the party and the shame of being a failure for leaving. Sure, Sanmyaku had given her permission and she took it, but she should have just gotten over herself and stayed. Her stomach knotted into a dense mass and sunk into her abdomen and she backed away from the bell to look over at the next mountain. The sky cast a fiery, yellow-orange backdrop over the blackened mountain range, as if the sun were angry at the earth for turning and spinning away. Spinning in an orbit that was, paradoxically, dictated by the star’s own gravitational pull. She should head back now, she decided.

Asaya turned to leave, but pivoted back to look down the stone stairway carved into the ridge. A figure in a black and red cloak was approaching from downhill. A high collar prevented her from seeing most of the figure’s face, but a large weapon of some sort was strapped to the figure’s back. A sword? Reflexively, Asaya put her right hand on the beads around her left wrist. Once he stepped close enough, she realized the figure was a rather tall man and that the marks on his cloak were red clouds. They were distinctly menacing in a tacky way.

 “Who are you?” She shouted at him.

Unaffected, he kept climbing the stairs, coming close enough for her to see his unnaturally blue, oddly-textured skin and tiny, yellow dots for eyes. Across his forehead a defaced hitai-ate of Kirigakure was proudly displayed. He was clearly no pilgrim.

“I said, ‘who are you?’” Asaya shouted again.

The man halted. “Kagami Tomoyo.” He said it like he was filing down a nail.

Asaya unwrapped the beads from her wrist. “Why are you here?” Examining his face further, she saw he didn’t just look unnatural, he looked inhuman. Like a shark.

“I am Hoshigaki Kisame. One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.” His voice was simultaneously slimy and gritty.

“Why are you here?” She repeated herself again.

“Kagami Tomoyo.” He said.

What an obtuse ass. Not that he was pronouncing her name correctly, but how did he know it? “And?”

The man took the giant weapon from his back with one hand and swung it to his side. It really was a giant sword. How banal.

“You will be leaving with me now, girl.”

Asaya stepped down from the bonsho, porcelain beads gripped in her right hand. Like hell she was.

Aggressively leaping towards the intruder, she landed just in front of him and a stone spike erupted upwards to strike him. He easily dodged by jumping to the side, but Asaya hadn’t expected to actually hit him. She was simply sending the message that she planned to fight.

He lunged at her with his sword, smashing it into the stone stairway. But when the dust settled she had disappeared. Kisame scanned the ground. She must have burrowed herself under it. Typical Iwa ninja.

A shadow suddenly cast itself over him. Startled for a second, Kisame looked up to see a large boulder had appeared above him. He jumped downhill just in time to avoid being crushed. As soon as he landed, something like a whip appeared from the corner of his eye, headed straight for his face. He brought his left forearm up to block the blow, but instead of smashing, cutting, or otherwise injuring him, a string of pearls wound itself tight around his limb so tight he could feel them bruise his flesh. He looked at the other end of the sting to see the girl clutching it some meters away

“Next time will be your neck!” She yelled and then violently twisted her body.

By the string around his arm Kisame was whipped into the air and crashed into the side of the stone ridge. _Bitch!!_ He made to strike the string with his sword, but she retraced them. Enraged, he made a few seals and a giant wave manifested and rushed forth.

He was clearly trying to envelope her in his element. Trying to give himself the advantage. But water? On a mountain in Earth country? Against an Iwa shinobi? What a joke. Asaya knelt down and pounded both fists into the ground to summon a great barrier of stone. Despite the wave’s immense volume, it ineffectively crashed into her barrier and the water simply drained down the ridge in an equally immense waste of effort.

Asaya shifted back to her feet, crouching with her weapon at the ready, eyes and ears open and waiting for his next attack. He may be a fool, but he was a strong fool. Taking any kind of hit wasn’t an option. He appeared at the top of the wall then jumped to strike down at her with his massive sword. She leapt back to avoid the impact, but between the shock vibrating through the ground and her unsupportive formal footwear her ankle gave out and she stumbled.

Kisame saw his chance to strike the girl and took it. He lunged at her but instead of slashing, he scooped her up and flung her into the air, then waited for her to fall back down.

 _Danmit!_ Asaya thought midair. At the apex of her flight, she looked down at the shark-man. He looked up at her like a predator about to ambush his prey from below- like a shark about to devour a bird on the water. Knowing what he planned, she brought one hand to her chest in a seal while the other reached back with her beads.

Kisame’s beady eyes widened as the girl flew helplessly through the air. Suspended, she was unable to control her movements as effectively she did on the ground. That meant she couldn’t attack with the same force, but more importantly it meant she couldn’t dodge. As for blocking, she obviously had nowhere near the physical strength he did. Kisame jumped upwards swinging samehada to devour her.

As soon as he left the ground, Asaya cast her string of beads. They multiplied in length and laced together into a net and flew at him, entwining themselves mercilessly around his limbs and ensnaring him. Shocked and rendered powerless, he dropped his sword and fell to the ground on his back with a stiff thud. Arms and legs completely entangled, he was unable to move. Asaya landed neatly and looked down at him in contempt while he floundered at her feet.

A jagged rock dug into Kisame’s back painfully as he writhed. “You bitch!” He yelled at her while struggling against his bonds.

This man really was strong, she realized. It took much more of her power to keep him bound than she expected. “Who sent you after me?”

“Heh, wouldn’t you like to know?” He mocked her, still raging in her trap.

Asaya rolled her eyes. She didn’t know why she bothered asking when she knew he wasn’t going to cooperate. No matter, she supposed. It would have been nice to bring him back alive so that interrogation could get the information out of him but she couldn’t risk him breaking free. It was better to just kill him now. She raised a hand to her chest and prepared to make a seal.

* * *

 

Perched undetected atop the bonsho, Itachi had watched the whole fight. He was honestly impressed that the young woman was able to strike Kisame more times than he did her. And even more so that she was able to subdue him. It was certainly something he had never seen before. He looked down at his partner struggling fruitlessly in the woman’s snare. He had better intervene before she killed him.

Asaya was about to execute the shark man when a new presence appeared suddenly behind her, alighting swiftly and silently like a great, black bird. Startled, she turned and stepped back. Where did he come from? She hadn’t sensed anyone else’s chakra.

“Kagami Tomoyo, I would have you release my comrade now.” He said coldly.

This new figure was a young man with black hair and a fair complexion. The matching cloak he wore told her immediately that this new man was the partner of the one she had bound. Unlike his comrade, he looked like a normal human, but… his eyes… They were a deep red. More red then the painted structure that housed the bonsho. A glassy crimson made all the more intense by the refracted light of a violent sunset. Asaya had never seen anything like it. And the detached, expressionless way he looked at her… almost as if she weren’t even there. Her lungs stopped breathing while her heart beat faster. He was someone to be afraid of.

“W-who are you?” Wary and on edge, her brows pinched together. She was unable to move while binding the shark monster. Vulnerable, even.

The young man’s scarlet eyes almost burned her. “My name is Uchiha Itachi, and you will be leaving with me now.”

When he finished the last word her vision involuntarily unfocused and her knees wobbled. The shadows of the mountainside stretched and warped together until they enveloped the whole earth. Then they kept twisting and growing until they crawled up and shrouded her own body in darkness. _An illusion…?_ was her last thought before she lost consciousness.

Itachi caught her limp body as she fell forward into his arms. For all the trouble she had just given Kisame, subduing her with a genjustu was surprisingly effortless.

The chain of beads that ensnared Kisame retreated into its original form around the young woman’s wrist. Itachi had thought they were some sort of onenju, or prayer beads, but upon examination he found they didn’t have a larger guru bead and appeared to contain more than the usual 108. They were just a necklace of unglazed, porcelain pearls.

Kisame groaned and stood up. “You didn’t have to intervene, you know. I could’ve broken free.” He walked over to where samehada had landed and returned the sword to its place on his back.

Saying nothing to acknowledge the false statement, he gathered the unconscious woman in his arms and turned to walk away. “The disturbance will have attracted the attention of other shinobi. We should leave quickly.”

 “Feh.” Kisame sneered and followed his partner.

* * *

 

Asaya brought a hand to cradle the side of her head. “Ow…” She winced. A pounding headache drummed against her temples. Weakly, she propped herself up and looked at her surroundings. The sky was cloudy and moonless, but she could tell she was on one of the craggy, infinity indistinguishable mountainsides of Earth country. Not that it helped her any. She remembered fighting two men before passing out. Well, one of them she fought, the other… What was his name?

“You’re awake.” Came that man’s voice in the darkness.

He sat a few feet in front of her and the shark man rested a few feet beyond him. Instinctively, she grabbed her left wrist only to find that it was bare.

“Looking for these?” He said and held up her beads. Their pristine white almost shined through the night surrounding them. “You’re quite formidable with them.” She watched powerlessly while he tucked her beads back into in his cloak like they were being swallowed by a black hole.

Once they disappeared, she looked back at the young man’s face. She remembered how his eyes seemed to radiate a vivid, crystalline red, but now her eyes met a perfect black that did not gleam like normal eyes would. Asaya’s chest heaved shaky and anxious. An unyielding, inescapable black that effortlessly subsumed and dissipated all light, squelching any hint at its true depths.

The young woman looked up at Itachi with a storm of conflicting thoughts and emotions concealed behind a pearlescent face. She was afraid of him- the slight tremor of her breath told him as much. Yet, she gazed directly at him- into him- gleaning all that she could.

In the dark, overcast night, Itachi met a small, constant glimmer.

* * *

 

The large, heavy, wooden double doors of the Tsuchikage’s office slammed open as Mistress Fukurou entered.

“Where is Asaya?” She demanded. “What has happened to my apprentice?!”

Onoki and the two ranking officials at his desk looked up, startled. This was not unexpected, however. He knew the witch would come for him eventually. “Calm down.” He said.

“Don’t tell me to ‘calm down.’” She rebuked him.

“I’m in a meeting! Can’t you see that?” How dare she think she could just interrupt him on a whim? “Bother me when I’m not in the middle of business.”

The two officials looked to each other hesitantly, then to Onoki and the old woman, clearly at a loss for what they should do. Mistress Fukurou sneered and they cowered like dogs. “You both, leave.” She ordered.

They looked at Onoki as if he were going to save them.

“I said ‘leave!’” Mistress Fukurou shouted at them while stampeding towards the desk, her wooden cane loudly striking the stone floor every other step.

They immediately stood up from their seats and scurried out of the office knowing it was better not to get caught in the fight.

Onoki sat back and huffed. “I don’t appreciate you coming in here and-”

“You’re the one who insisted she attend that event.” She lambasted him. “You knew there was no reason for her to go. It was just a meaningless security risk because you wanted to use my apprentice in one of your selfish schemes!”

“Well maybe if you had been a good instructor and actually taught her to fight and defend herself this wouldn’t have happened!” He countered.

“I’m a better instructor than you! I’m not the one whose own son knowingly disregarded the responsibility of protecting his charge.”

“She left of her own free will!”

“After _your_ son told her to!”

Would the old bat just die of a self-induced stroke? She was singularly the greatest adversary of his entire career as Tsuchikage. Onoki took a deep breath. He needed to think very strategically about what he was about to say. “I have already have men on the case to find her. We will find who is responsible for this and she will be returned safely in no time. Until then be patient.”

“You have ‘ _men_ ’ on the case? You have three inept children on the case. The leader of whom is the same son who allowed this happen in the first place.”

He wanted so much to yell at the old bat to vacate his office right now or to threaten to call security. Ultimately it would just make him look bad to have an elderly woman forcibly removed from his office, nonetheless a fellow member of the Grand Council. It would be seen as weak, uncooperative leadership. “What exactly do you want from me? To go find her myself?”

Mistress Fukurou manipulated the string of ivory beads around her neck with her large, arthritic joints and bony fingers. “I want you to assign someone highly experienced this case so that my apprentice has a chance at coming back alive. Time is critical, Onoki-san.” She pinched a single bead and rolled it between her index finger and thumb.

Crossing his arms, Onoki contemplated his options for a moment. If Fukurou didn’t get what she wanted, or at least something, she’d retaliate by obstructing every other order of business he had. But he couldn’t just let her win either. “Very well, I will assign additional, experienced personnel to the case.”

“That’s not good enough. I want you to replace your son with someone specializing in search and rescue.”

Now that he definitely could not do. “You would insult my son?” It wasn’t the first time she had offended him or his family- not by a long shot.

“I have been insulting your son this entire time. Do keep up.” She said curtly.

 _Damn it, Fukurou_. He thought. “I’m not going to publicly disgrace my son’s-”

“He has already seen to that himself, don’t you think?”

“Fine.” Onoki waived an arm, defeated. “Fine! I’ll find someone else and assign them to the case.”

Mistress Fukurou stopped fiddling with her beads and brought her hand to rest by her side. She had won, but only mostly. “You know, Onoki-san,” she tapped her polished wooden cane once as she prepared to leave, “perhaps you are just using this as an excuse to slight me, but the security of the entire village, not to mention Asaya’s _life_ , is what you are gambling with just to do so.” Walking away, she said over her shoulder in disappointment, “I cannot imagine why that would be worth it to you.”


End file.
